This article was downloaded by: [University of Toronto Libraries] On: 02 February 2015, At: 23:47 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujpd20
Race/Ethnicity and Gender Differences in the DrugsViolence Relationship a
a
a
Barry J. Spunt , Paul J. Goldstein , Patricia A. Bellucci & Thomas Miller
a
a
Narcotic and Drug Research, Inc. , 11 Beach Street, New York , New York , 10013 Published online: 20 Jan 2012.
To cite this article: Barry J. Spunt , Paul J. Goldstein , Patricia A. Bellucci & Thomas Miller (1990) Race/Ethnicity and Gender Differences in the Drugs-Violence Relationship, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 22:3, 293-303, DOI: 10.1080/02791072.1990.10472552 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1990.10472552
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Race/Ethnicityand
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 23:47 02 February 2015
Gender Differences in the Drugs-Violence Relationship t Barry J. Spunt*; Paul J. Goldstein*; Patricia A. Bellucci* & Thomas Miller* Abstract - This article examines the drug relatedness of violent events reported by White, Black, and Hispanic male and female street drug users from New York City. The primary purpose is to determine if the drugs-violence relationship varies for these different populations of drug abusers. Drug relatedness is assessed according to a tripartite conceptual model of the general relationship between drugs and violence. Significant race/ethnicity and gender differences were found in regard to the number of violent events manifesting specific drug-related dimensions of violence, the drugs associated with these violent events, and the primary reasons for the occurrence of these events. The implications of these findings are discussed. Keywords -
drugs, gender, race/ethnicity, violence
A variety of empirical studies have provided support for the argument that the relationship between drugs and violence is strong. For example, Stephans and Ellis (1975) argued that criminal patterns of heroin users were shifting in the direction of greater amounts of violence. Preble (1980) conducted an ethnographic study of heroin addicts in East Harlem in the late 1960s. About 15 years later, he again sought out the participants and obtained detailed information about what had happened to them. He found that of those who had died (about one-third of the sample), 40% were the victims of homicide. McBride (1981) found the same increasing trend of violent behavior among drug users in Miami. Ball, Schaeffer and Nurco (1983) studied heroin addicts in Baltimore and found that the number of
days containing violent crime perpetrations was 18 times higher during initial addiction periods as compared to initial days off opioids. Research involving urine testing has revealed substantial proportions of drug users among arrestees. Studies in New York City and Washington, D.C., have found that from one-third to two-thirds of those arrested for violent offenses had been using one or more illegal drugs at the time of their arrest (Toberg, Bellassai & Yezer 1986; Wish, Brady & Cuadrado 1986). Reviewing research on domestic violence, Gorney (1989) found that most studies show that from 60% to 70% of batterers assault their partners while drunk, and that 13% to 20% of batterers are intoxicated by other substances at the time of assault. Using medical examiner data from Philadelphia, Zahn and Bencivengo (1974) reported that homicide was the leading cause of death among drug users in 1972 - which was even higher than deaths due to adverse effects of drugsand accounted for approximately one-third of the homicides. After studying autopsy and police reports in Michigan, Monteforte and Spitz (1975) suggested that drug use and distribution may be more strongly related to homicide than to property crime. Abel (1987) studied toxicological data for homicide victims in Erie County, New York,
t Prep aration of this report was supported by NIDA grants DA03182, " Drug Related Involvement in Violent Episodes (DRIVE)," and DA-D4017, "Female Drug Related Involvement in Violent Episodes (FEM DRIV E)." Points of view or opinions in this report do not necessarily represent the official positions or policies of the United States gov ernment or Narcotic and Drug Research, Inc . This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Criminology, Reno, Nevada, Novem be r, 1989 . *Narcotic and Drug Research, Inc ., II Beach Street, New York, New York 10013 .
Journal ofPsychoactive Drugs
293
Vol. 22(3), Jul-Sep 1990
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 23:47 02 February 2015
Spuntetal.
Drugs- Violence Relationship
For example, the drug relatedness of violent events is simply not a focus of inquiry in the Uniform Crime Reports, which contain aggregated statistics of crimes known to the police. Specific violent acts cannot be linked to antecedent drug activities of either victim or perpetrator. Broad reeording categories make it virtually impossible to determine whether the offender or victim was a drug user or distributor, or whether the pharmacological status of either victim or offender was related to the specific violent act. The present article examines the drug relatedness of violent events reported by White, Black, and Hispanic male and female street drug users from New York City. The primary purpose is to determine if the drugs-violence relationship varies for these different populations of drug abusers. Drug relatedness is assessed according to a tripartite conceptual model of the general relationship between drugs and violence.
and found that alcohol was present in almost half of the victims, and other drugs in a few other victims. Some researchers have reported race/ethnicity and gender differences in the drugs-violence relationship. For example, in their examination of all homicide victims killed in Manhattan in 1981, Tardiff and Gross (1986) found that while more than one-third of men were killed during drug-related homicides, two-thirds of women were killed during nondrug-related disputes. Blacks had the highest rates and Whites had the lowest rates for drug related homicides. Similar findings were reported in the previou sly noted Zahn and Bencivengo study (1974). Unfortunately, researchers have not probed in any depth the drugs-violence relationship, employed conceptual models in their work, or analyzed race/ethnicity or gender differences in any systematic way. As a result, it is not at all clear whether, or how, the relationship varies between drug abusers of differing race/ethnicity and gender. Generalizations without attention to these variables, however, are likely to be misleading and inaccurate. Knowledge about these types of differences could inform program and policy initiatives for dealing with drugrelated violence by helping to identify the types of interventions that would be most appropriate for different populations of drug abusers. A major problem with most research in this area is that the data are derived from official sources. These types of data have limited utility for elaborating on the drugsviolence relationship in general or on race/ethnicity or gender differences in this relationship in particular. Medical examiner data only provide information on the status of victims of homicide, a relatively rare form of violence. The vast majority of violent events, including those that are drug related, never come to the attention of medical examiners. Further, evidence of the drug relatedness of homicides frequently is not contained in the victim (e.g., when only the perpetrator had ingested drugs). Police data are also a less-than-ideal source of information about the drug relatedness of violent events. Using a retrospective data collection model for the purpose of studying how drugs and homicide are related, Goldstein and Brownstein (1987) collected data from police records of homicides that had occurred throughout the state of New York during the prior two years. They found that much information on the extent and nature of drug relatedness was absent from the records. These researchers discovered that unless drugs were identified as directly relevant to the criminal investigation of a case, records on the drug relatedness of homicides were not maintained. A number of police officials stated that if drug-related information about a case is needed, it would have to be requested during the investigation. Currently available national-level databases cannot be used to document the drug relatedness of violent events. Journal ofPsychoactive Drugs
TRIPARTITE MODEL
According to the tripartite model, drugs and violence may be related to each other psychopharmacologically, economically compulsive, and systemically (see Goldstein 1989). The psychopharmacological model suggests that as a result of ingesting specific substances, some individuals may become excitable and/or irrational, and may act out in a violent fashion. Psychopharmacological violence may also result from the irritability associated with withdrawal syndromes from addictive substances. Psychopharmacological violence may involve substance use by either victims or perpetrators of violent events. In this regard, substance use may contribute to a person behaving violently, or it may alter a person's behavior in such a manner as to bring about that person's violent victimization. The economic-compulsive model suggests that some drug users feel compelled to engage in economically oriented violent crime (e.g., robbery) in order to support costly drug use. Heroin and cocaine, which are expensive and typified by compulsive patterns of use, are typically seen as the most criminogenic substances in this category. Systemic violence refers to the normally aggressive patterns of interaction within the systems of drug distribution and use. Systemic violence includes disputes over territories between rival drug dealers, assaults and homicides committed within dealing hierarchies as a means of enforcing normative codes, robberies of drug dealers and the usual violent retaliation by the dealer or his or her bosses, and punishment for selling adulterated or phony drugs or for failing to pay one's debts. Systemic violence may also occur between users, as in cases of disputes over drugs or drug paraphernalia.
294
\bl. 22(3), Jul-Sep 1990
Drugs-Violence Relationship
Spunl el al.
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 23:47 02 February 2015
METHODS
TABLE I RACElETHNICITY BREAKDOWN OF THE MALE AND FEMALE SAMPLES
Data are derived from two ethnographic studies of the drugs-violence relationship (one with males, the other with females) that were conducted in New York City between 1984 and 1988. Drug Related Involvement in Violent Episodes (DRIVE) studied the violent perpetrations by, and victimizations of, male drug users and distributors who lived in or frequented the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Female Drug Related Involvement in Violent Episodes (FEMDRlVE) was a companion project that studied the drugs-violence relationship among female drug users and distributors from the Lower East Side. In this research, violent events were defined as incidents in which the use or threat of the use of physical force or hann is exhibited. Such events included domestic violence, street fights, and crimes (e.g., robbery and assault). A field site was established consisting of three rooms in a dilapidated old building owned by the city of New York and administered by a neighborhood community organization. Subjects were recruited from field contacts, using snowball sampling techniques, and by making contacts with a local methadone maintenance treatment program and recruiting subjects from their patient population. Only individuals over the age of 18 were eligible to participate in these studies. On recruitment for the studies, all subjects were given a life-history interview that focused on a wide range of issues, including basic demographic characteristics, histories of drug use and treatment, participation in the drug business, criminal histories, and violence histories. After completing the life-history interview, subjects were put on a weekly reporting schedule for eight weeks. The analytic time unit for the weekly interview is a day; data covering seven discrete days were collected each week. Detailed accounts of the violent events and the motivations of participants were obtained. In addition to the structured interviews, open-ended taped interviews focusing on topics of special interest were conducted. A number of techniques were used to assure the reliability and validity of study data. Internal consistency checks were built into the interview schedules and respondents were asked to correct any discrepancies that emerged. Staff questioned possible exaggerations or unreliable claims and encouraged respondents to supply accurate and complete information. The data have high face validity because field workers and professional staff frequently observed respondents engaging in behaviors that they reported in interviews. Key informants provided validation of some accounts given by subjects. Also, some respondents were partners in the same event and reported similar stories. The overall data analysis strategy in the present article was to first examine race/ethnicity differences in the drugsJournal of Psychoactive Drugs
White Black
Hispanic Other
Male (N=152) % (n)
Female (N=133) (n) %
34 43 20 3
26 53 20 2
(52) (65) (30) ( 5)
(34) (71)
(26) ( 2)
VIOlence reiauonsrnp controlling lor gender. That IS, enferences are examined among White, Black, and Hispanic males and also among White, Black, and Hispanic females. Then, gender differences are examined, controlling for race/ethnicity (i.e., differences between White males and females, Black males and females, and also between Hispanic males and females.
MALE AND FEMALE SAMPLES A total of 152 males and 133 females completed the interview process, including a life-history interview and eight weekly interviews. Table I shows the race/ethnicity breakdown for the male and female samples'. For each sample, Blacks were the modal group, followed by Whites and Hispanics. Whites comprised a somewhat larger percentage of the male sample than the female sample; the opposite was true for Blacks. Each sample had the same percentage of Hispanics. (An additional 3% of the male sample and 2% of the female sample - Native Americans, Asian Americans, and a Bengali - were dropped from the analysis.) Table II presents data on the demographic characteristics of the White, Black, and Hispanic males and females. There was little variation in age between the groups - the median age for all groups was about 30. Regarding educational attainment, Table II shows that Hispanic males and females were the most likely to have dropped out of high school. Hispanic males were significantly more likely than Black or White males to be dropouts (p1. 22(3), Jul-Sep 1990
Spunt et al.
Drugs- Violence Relationship
TABLE II DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS· Females
Males
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 23:47 02 February 2015
Educatlonv" Less than high-school graduate High-school graduate Some college or graduated Marital Status Single Formerly married Married
White (%)
Black (%)
Hispanic (%)
White (%)
Black (%)
Hispanic (%)
25 31 42
42 29 29
63 27
46
10
38 32 29
27 27
65 15 19
50 36
65 28 6
63 33 3
44 29 26
63 28 8
54 38 8
68 6 4
I I
4 12 4 38 31 4 4 4
13
Living Situation Shelte r Spouse/love r Alone Family Friend Child/childre n Spouse and Children Vagrant
33 25 15 12 8 0 0 8
66
47
9 8 3 9 0
13 17
13 0 0
0 5
0 10
12 20 9 12 24 9 3 12
Employed
17
9
10
15
6
0
Median Age (years)
34
33
29
33
31
31
10
6 4
·Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100. "For one White male , data on education was undetermined.
race/ethnicity or gender differences concerning marital status. In terms of living situation, Table II shows that about two-thirds of the Black males , almost half of the Hispanic males, and one-third of the White males resided in these places: "shelter" was also the modal category for Black females. Only small proportions of White and Hispanic females, however, lived in a shelter. More than a third of White females and two-thirds of Hispanic females lived with family or friends . The large numbers of shelter residents among study subjects is a consequence of the fact that the DRIVE/FEMDRIVE field site was located near the main shelter for homeless men in New York City and near a number of Bowery flophouse hotels. Two large shelters for women were a few blocks away. If the "homeless" category subjects who resided in these places are combined with individuals who were classified as vagrants (i.e., they lived "on the streets" - in subways, parks or abandoned buildings, for example), one finds that Black males (71 %) were more likely than Hispanic (57%) or White males (41 %) to be homeless (p
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujpd20
Race/Ethnicity and Gender Differences in the DrugsViolence Relationship a
a
a
Barry J. Spunt , Paul J. Goldstein , Patricia A. Bellucci & Thomas Miller
a
a
Narcotic and Drug Research, Inc. , 11 Beach Street, New York , New York , 10013 Published online: 20 Jan 2012.
To cite this article: Barry J. Spunt , Paul J. Goldstein , Patricia A. Bellucci & Thomas Miller (1990) Race/Ethnicity and Gender Differences in the Drugs-Violence Relationship, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 22:3, 293-303, DOI: 10.1080/02791072.1990.10472552 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1990.10472552
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Race/Ethnicityand
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 23:47 02 February 2015
Gender Differences in the Drugs-Violence Relationship t Barry J. Spunt*; Paul J. Goldstein*; Patricia A. Bellucci* & Thomas Miller* Abstract - This article examines the drug relatedness of violent events reported by White, Black, and Hispanic male and female street drug users from New York City. The primary purpose is to determine if the drugs-violence relationship varies for these different populations of drug abusers. Drug relatedness is assessed according to a tripartite conceptual model of the general relationship between drugs and violence. Significant race/ethnicity and gender differences were found in regard to the number of violent events manifesting specific drug-related dimensions of violence, the drugs associated with these violent events, and the primary reasons for the occurrence of these events. The implications of these findings are discussed. Keywords -
drugs, gender, race/ethnicity, violence
A variety of empirical studies have provided support for the argument that the relationship between drugs and violence is strong. For example, Stephans and Ellis (1975) argued that criminal patterns of heroin users were shifting in the direction of greater amounts of violence. Preble (1980) conducted an ethnographic study of heroin addicts in East Harlem in the late 1960s. About 15 years later, he again sought out the participants and obtained detailed information about what had happened to them. He found that of those who had died (about one-third of the sample), 40% were the victims of homicide. McBride (1981) found the same increasing trend of violent behavior among drug users in Miami. Ball, Schaeffer and Nurco (1983) studied heroin addicts in Baltimore and found that the number of
days containing violent crime perpetrations was 18 times higher during initial addiction periods as compared to initial days off opioids. Research involving urine testing has revealed substantial proportions of drug users among arrestees. Studies in New York City and Washington, D.C., have found that from one-third to two-thirds of those arrested for violent offenses had been using one or more illegal drugs at the time of their arrest (Toberg, Bellassai & Yezer 1986; Wish, Brady & Cuadrado 1986). Reviewing research on domestic violence, Gorney (1989) found that most studies show that from 60% to 70% of batterers assault their partners while drunk, and that 13% to 20% of batterers are intoxicated by other substances at the time of assault. Using medical examiner data from Philadelphia, Zahn and Bencivengo (1974) reported that homicide was the leading cause of death among drug users in 1972 - which was even higher than deaths due to adverse effects of drugsand accounted for approximately one-third of the homicides. After studying autopsy and police reports in Michigan, Monteforte and Spitz (1975) suggested that drug use and distribution may be more strongly related to homicide than to property crime. Abel (1987) studied toxicological data for homicide victims in Erie County, New York,
t Prep aration of this report was supported by NIDA grants DA03182, " Drug Related Involvement in Violent Episodes (DRIVE)," and DA-D4017, "Female Drug Related Involvement in Violent Episodes (FEM DRIV E)." Points of view or opinions in this report do not necessarily represent the official positions or policies of the United States gov ernment or Narcotic and Drug Research, Inc . This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Criminology, Reno, Nevada, Novem be r, 1989 . *Narcotic and Drug Research, Inc ., II Beach Street, New York, New York 10013 .
Journal ofPsychoactive Drugs
293
Vol. 22(3), Jul-Sep 1990
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 23:47 02 February 2015
Spuntetal.
Drugs- Violence Relationship
For example, the drug relatedness of violent events is simply not a focus of inquiry in the Uniform Crime Reports, which contain aggregated statistics of crimes known to the police. Specific violent acts cannot be linked to antecedent drug activities of either victim or perpetrator. Broad reeording categories make it virtually impossible to determine whether the offender or victim was a drug user or distributor, or whether the pharmacological status of either victim or offender was related to the specific violent act. The present article examines the drug relatedness of violent events reported by White, Black, and Hispanic male and female street drug users from New York City. The primary purpose is to determine if the drugs-violence relationship varies for these different populations of drug abusers. Drug relatedness is assessed according to a tripartite conceptual model of the general relationship between drugs and violence.
and found that alcohol was present in almost half of the victims, and other drugs in a few other victims. Some researchers have reported race/ethnicity and gender differences in the drugs-violence relationship. For example, in their examination of all homicide victims killed in Manhattan in 1981, Tardiff and Gross (1986) found that while more than one-third of men were killed during drug-related homicides, two-thirds of women were killed during nondrug-related disputes. Blacks had the highest rates and Whites had the lowest rates for drug related homicides. Similar findings were reported in the previou sly noted Zahn and Bencivengo study (1974). Unfortunately, researchers have not probed in any depth the drugs-violence relationship, employed conceptual models in their work, or analyzed race/ethnicity or gender differences in any systematic way. As a result, it is not at all clear whether, or how, the relationship varies between drug abusers of differing race/ethnicity and gender. Generalizations without attention to these variables, however, are likely to be misleading and inaccurate. Knowledge about these types of differences could inform program and policy initiatives for dealing with drugrelated violence by helping to identify the types of interventions that would be most appropriate for different populations of drug abusers. A major problem with most research in this area is that the data are derived from official sources. These types of data have limited utility for elaborating on the drugsviolence relationship in general or on race/ethnicity or gender differences in this relationship in particular. Medical examiner data only provide information on the status of victims of homicide, a relatively rare form of violence. The vast majority of violent events, including those that are drug related, never come to the attention of medical examiners. Further, evidence of the drug relatedness of homicides frequently is not contained in the victim (e.g., when only the perpetrator had ingested drugs). Police data are also a less-than-ideal source of information about the drug relatedness of violent events. Using a retrospective data collection model for the purpose of studying how drugs and homicide are related, Goldstein and Brownstein (1987) collected data from police records of homicides that had occurred throughout the state of New York during the prior two years. They found that much information on the extent and nature of drug relatedness was absent from the records. These researchers discovered that unless drugs were identified as directly relevant to the criminal investigation of a case, records on the drug relatedness of homicides were not maintained. A number of police officials stated that if drug-related information about a case is needed, it would have to be requested during the investigation. Currently available national-level databases cannot be used to document the drug relatedness of violent events. Journal ofPsychoactive Drugs
TRIPARTITE MODEL
According to the tripartite model, drugs and violence may be related to each other psychopharmacologically, economically compulsive, and systemically (see Goldstein 1989). The psychopharmacological model suggests that as a result of ingesting specific substances, some individuals may become excitable and/or irrational, and may act out in a violent fashion. Psychopharmacological violence may also result from the irritability associated with withdrawal syndromes from addictive substances. Psychopharmacological violence may involve substance use by either victims or perpetrators of violent events. In this regard, substance use may contribute to a person behaving violently, or it may alter a person's behavior in such a manner as to bring about that person's violent victimization. The economic-compulsive model suggests that some drug users feel compelled to engage in economically oriented violent crime (e.g., robbery) in order to support costly drug use. Heroin and cocaine, which are expensive and typified by compulsive patterns of use, are typically seen as the most criminogenic substances in this category. Systemic violence refers to the normally aggressive patterns of interaction within the systems of drug distribution and use. Systemic violence includes disputes over territories between rival drug dealers, assaults and homicides committed within dealing hierarchies as a means of enforcing normative codes, robberies of drug dealers and the usual violent retaliation by the dealer or his or her bosses, and punishment for selling adulterated or phony drugs or for failing to pay one's debts. Systemic violence may also occur between users, as in cases of disputes over drugs or drug paraphernalia.
294
\bl. 22(3), Jul-Sep 1990
Drugs-Violence Relationship
Spunl el al.
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 23:47 02 February 2015
METHODS
TABLE I RACElETHNICITY BREAKDOWN OF THE MALE AND FEMALE SAMPLES
Data are derived from two ethnographic studies of the drugs-violence relationship (one with males, the other with females) that were conducted in New York City between 1984 and 1988. Drug Related Involvement in Violent Episodes (DRIVE) studied the violent perpetrations by, and victimizations of, male drug users and distributors who lived in or frequented the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Female Drug Related Involvement in Violent Episodes (FEMDRlVE) was a companion project that studied the drugs-violence relationship among female drug users and distributors from the Lower East Side. In this research, violent events were defined as incidents in which the use or threat of the use of physical force or hann is exhibited. Such events included domestic violence, street fights, and crimes (e.g., robbery and assault). A field site was established consisting of three rooms in a dilapidated old building owned by the city of New York and administered by a neighborhood community organization. Subjects were recruited from field contacts, using snowball sampling techniques, and by making contacts with a local methadone maintenance treatment program and recruiting subjects from their patient population. Only individuals over the age of 18 were eligible to participate in these studies. On recruitment for the studies, all subjects were given a life-history interview that focused on a wide range of issues, including basic demographic characteristics, histories of drug use and treatment, participation in the drug business, criminal histories, and violence histories. After completing the life-history interview, subjects were put on a weekly reporting schedule for eight weeks. The analytic time unit for the weekly interview is a day; data covering seven discrete days were collected each week. Detailed accounts of the violent events and the motivations of participants were obtained. In addition to the structured interviews, open-ended taped interviews focusing on topics of special interest were conducted. A number of techniques were used to assure the reliability and validity of study data. Internal consistency checks were built into the interview schedules and respondents were asked to correct any discrepancies that emerged. Staff questioned possible exaggerations or unreliable claims and encouraged respondents to supply accurate and complete information. The data have high face validity because field workers and professional staff frequently observed respondents engaging in behaviors that they reported in interviews. Key informants provided validation of some accounts given by subjects. Also, some respondents were partners in the same event and reported similar stories. The overall data analysis strategy in the present article was to first examine race/ethnicity differences in the drugsJournal of Psychoactive Drugs
White Black
Hispanic Other
Male (N=152) % (n)
Female (N=133) (n) %
34 43 20 3
26 53 20 2
(52) (65) (30) ( 5)
(34) (71)
(26) ( 2)
VIOlence reiauonsrnp controlling lor gender. That IS, enferences are examined among White, Black, and Hispanic males and also among White, Black, and Hispanic females. Then, gender differences are examined, controlling for race/ethnicity (i.e., differences between White males and females, Black males and females, and also between Hispanic males and females.
MALE AND FEMALE SAMPLES A total of 152 males and 133 females completed the interview process, including a life-history interview and eight weekly interviews. Table I shows the race/ethnicity breakdown for the male and female samples'. For each sample, Blacks were the modal group, followed by Whites and Hispanics. Whites comprised a somewhat larger percentage of the male sample than the female sample; the opposite was true for Blacks. Each sample had the same percentage of Hispanics. (An additional 3% of the male sample and 2% of the female sample - Native Americans, Asian Americans, and a Bengali - were dropped from the analysis.) Table II presents data on the demographic characteristics of the White, Black, and Hispanic males and females. There was little variation in age between the groups - the median age for all groups was about 30. Regarding educational attainment, Table II shows that Hispanic males and females were the most likely to have dropped out of high school. Hispanic males were significantly more likely than Black or White males to be dropouts (p1. 22(3), Jul-Sep 1990
Spunt et al.
Drugs- Violence Relationship
TABLE II DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS· Females
Males
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 23:47 02 February 2015
Educatlonv" Less than high-school graduate High-school graduate Some college or graduated Marital Status Single Formerly married Married
White (%)
Black (%)
Hispanic (%)
White (%)
Black (%)
Hispanic (%)
25 31 42
42 29 29
63 27
46
10
38 32 29
27 27
65 15 19
50 36
65 28 6
63 33 3
44 29 26
63 28 8
54 38 8
68 6 4
I I
4 12 4 38 31 4 4 4
13
Living Situation Shelte r Spouse/love r Alone Family Friend Child/childre n Spouse and Children Vagrant
33 25 15 12 8 0 0 8
66
47
9 8 3 9 0
13 17
13 0 0
0 5
0 10
12 20 9 12 24 9 3 12
Employed
17
9
10
15
6
0
Median Age (years)
34
33
29
33
31
31
10
6 4
·Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100. "For one White male , data on education was undetermined.
race/ethnicity or gender differences concerning marital status. In terms of living situation, Table II shows that about two-thirds of the Black males , almost half of the Hispanic males, and one-third of the White males resided in these places: "shelter" was also the modal category for Black females. Only small proportions of White and Hispanic females, however, lived in a shelter. More than a third of White females and two-thirds of Hispanic females lived with family or friends . The large numbers of shelter residents among study subjects is a consequence of the fact that the DRIVE/FEMDRIVE field site was located near the main shelter for homeless men in New York City and near a number of Bowery flophouse hotels. Two large shelters for women were a few blocks away. If the "homeless" category subjects who resided in these places are combined with individuals who were classified as vagrants (i.e., they lived "on the streets" - in subways, parks or abandoned buildings, for example), one finds that Black males (71 %) were more likely than Hispanic (57%) or White males (41 %) to be homeless (p
