A Cross-National Comparison of Drug Possession and Drug Trafficking Offenses at Different Stages of the Criminal Justice System, 1990-1994

Sheryl Van Horne, Rutgers University
Graham Farrell, Rutgers University

ABSTRACT
The Fifth United Nations Crime Survey was utilized to analyze drug crime trends between 1990 and 1994 within and between countries and regions. Drug-possession and trafficking offenses were examined at each of the following stages of the criminal justice system: apprehension, prosecution, conviction and admission to prison. The questions that are addressed include: 1) where, geographically, are drugs a more significant problem in the-criminal justice system, 2) how has the share of-drug possession and trafficking offenses changed over time in the criminal justice system, 3) are drug offenses more likely to be filtered out in some countries, rather than others, and 4) is there a regional or worldwide trend in filtering out drug cases. Case summaries and means were used to assess differences and the sign test, a non-parametric test, was used to test the validity of the results.

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Updated 05/20/2006