Drugs and Crime

Choose Drugs and Crime when you want a critical overview of public policy issues on law enforcement and regulation: It focuses on major policy initiatives and the implications of research conducted on their effectiveness. The evaluations of policy results are practical and focus on verifiable results. --The Midwest Book Review Addressing critical areas of drug control and system improvement, Drugs and Crime provides a clear and comprehensive examination of policy relevant research. Editors, MacKenzie and Uchida enlist outstanding experts in the field to produce a volume that explores the major problems related to drug trafficking and use. Each chapter focuses on a major policy initiative and discusses the problem area, policies designed to address the problem, research on the effectiveness of the policies, and policy implications of the research. Just how effective is the criminal justice system in its response to drug use by children and adolescents, prison overcrowding, backlog in the courts, increased criminal activity, youths in the drug distribution system, and serious illnesses such as AIDS? Policymakers, scholars, practitioners, and students will find the "what we know" and "what we need to know" presentations in Drugs and Crime a most unique and appealing addition to the literature and a valuable resource in the continuing effort to understand the complex relationship between drug use and crime.

Doris Layton MacKenzie, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland and Director of the Evaluation Research Group. Prior to this position, she earned her doctorate from Pennsylvania State University, was on the faculty of the Louisiana State University where she was honored as a "Researcher of Distinction," and was awarded a Visiting Scientist position at the National Institute of Justice. As Visiting Scientist, she provided expertise to Federal, State and Local jurisdictions on correctional boot camps, correctional policy, intermediate sanctions, research methodology, experimental design, statistical analyses, and evaluation techniques. As an expert in criminal justice, Dr. MacKenzie has consulted with State and Local jurisdictions, and has testified before U.S. Senate and House Committees. She has an extensive publication record on such topics as examining what works to reduce crime in the community, inmate adjustment to prison, the impact of intermediate sanctions on recidivism, long-term offenders, methods of predicting prison populations, self-report criminal activities of probationers and boot camp prisons. She directed funded research projects on the topics of: "Multi-Site Study of Correctional Boot Camps," "Descriptive Study of Female Boot Camps," "Probationer Compliance with Conditions of Supervision" and "The National Study of Juvenile Correctional Institutions" and What Works in Corrections. Dr. MacKenzie is Past-Chair of the American Society of Criminology′s Division on Corrections and Sentencing. is Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland and Director of the Evaluation Research Group. Prior to this position, she earned her doctorate from Pennsylvania State University, was on the faculty of the Louisiana State University where she was honored as a "Researcher of Distinction," and was awarded a Visiting Scientist position at the National Institute of Justice. As Visiting Scientist, she provided expertise to Federal, State and Local jurisdictions on correctional boot camps, correctional policy, intermediate sanctions, research methodology, experimental design, statistical analyses, and evaluation techniques. As an expert in criminal justice, Dr. MacKenzie has consulted with State and Local jurisdictions, and has testified before U.S. Senate and House Committees. She has an extensive publication record on such topics as examining what works to reduce crime in the community, inmate adjustment to prison, the impact of intermediate sanctions on recidivism, long-term offenders, methods of predicting prison populations, self-report criminal activities of probationers and boot camp prisons. She directed funded research projects on the topics of: "Multi-Site Study of Correctional Boot Camps," "Descriptive Study of Female Boot Camps," "Probationer Compliance with Conditions of Supervision" and "The National Study of Juvenile Correctional Institutions" and What Works in Corrections. Dr. MacKenzie is Past-Chair of the American Society of Criminology′s Division on Corrections and Sentencing.