Citation

Lum C. Subst. Use Misuse 2008; 43(2): 179-201.

Affiliation

Administration of Justice Department, George Mason University, Manassas, Virginia, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10826080701690573

PMID

18205087

Abstract

The pervasiveness of interest regarding the theme of a relationship between street-level drug activity and violence has been reflected throughout criminal justice research, policy, and practice as well as in public opinion. Most research has focused on the connection between the two at the individual level. This study extends previous research by examining the place-based relationship between drugs and violence. To do so, this project employs three spatial statistical approaches - measures of spatial intensity/density, measures of spatial dependence for drugs and violence separately, and a modified spatial dependence approach for non-homogenous populations to explore the relationship between drug activity and violence. The findings indicate that while drugs and violence often exhibit overlapping spatial patterns, important variations exist in the spatial relationship between the two.

Language: en