The Criminal Justice System

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Problem Statement The criminal justice system treats all forms of serious crimes in an unforgiving manner. If the offenders commit a crime while under the influence of drugs, they are likely to be put in prison for a longer period of time rather than someone who committed the same kind of crime but was not under the influence of drugs (Taylor, 2008). With that said there are many causes of drug related crimes. Usually when there is a drug related crime it tends to be more serious in terms of damage done than non related ones. It is important to further explore crimes that are drug related in order to see the root causes. Some people are likely to generalize about the causes of drug related crimes and say that they are simply related to people who do not do any good for our society. However, in certain instances drugs can be used as a source of income for people and they commit crimes in order to facilitate that goal (Nurco, 1998). These people have no way out of their drug lives and therefore may not necessarily choose this life style but are brought up into it. Similarly the background of the people who become involved in drug usage which could result in crime are predisposed to drug related behavior early on in their households (Winfree et. Al., 1993). It is interesting to see how drug usage can affect people early in their life’s because one could assume that their drug usage would get higher later on. These people are likely to be molded into a lifestyle that involves heavy drug usage and result in committed crimes. So with all of this in mind “Do illegal drugs influence an individual to commit heinous crimes, such as murder?” It is interesting to see what the literature says on this topic and how there are actu... ... middle of paper ... ...much and they are not aware of what they are doing, and make poor decisions. So, the level of self control individuals can dictate their criminal behavior. connection The current knowledge about criminal behavior in relation to drugs is limited. People can say that the drugs are likely to influence criminal activity, but that doesn't give anything specific information about how criminal activity is influenced by drugs. It is one thing to make inferences about what is seen in a few people and another to actually have a group of people observed who can represent this behavior may times. The research on illicit drugs and crime points out that narcotics and cocaine were more likely than other drugs to cause criminal behavior, including murder (Nurco, 1991). This data was collected from prisoners who were drug users and experienced violent behavior as a result.

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