Criminal Justice

5 Pages 1181 Words

History:

The history of drug related crime goes well back into the 1700's with England and the United States supplying Asia with opium. The introduction began a addiction among the Asian people and caused crime rates to go up for the money to get the finance for their new found addiction. The addiction that western civilization started back then still affects large amounts of Asia still today with the continued addiction to opiates amongst other new aged drugs as well. However the effects of drugs and the crime that it brings had not affected the United states for about another 50 to 100 years in the 1800's mainly with the rise of organized crime (mafia and other forms of gangs). As the use of drugs became more and more popular in the united states the rise of property and some violent crimes went up gradually until the 1970's there was a drastic increase with the introduction of LSD, Heroin, and Cocaine.

Why do drugs lead to crime?:
One of the main reasons drugs lead to crime is the need for money to support their habit. People addicted to drugs resort to different types of crimes to get their money or their substance of addiction. One of the ways they will do it is from burglary which is the breaking of and entry into a building with out the owners knowledge to steal money or items to sell or trade for money. Another is theft and addict may go into a store and steal merchandise to sell on the street for the support of their habit. Robbery is the third main crime committed to support a drug habit. Robbery is the forced taking of another persons belongings.

I think another reason drugs cause crime is due to misjudgement because of the drugs effects. For instance a person that is under the influence of LSD a lot of times will see visions of things that may not seem as they would appear or they are not even there at all. Therefor this person on the drugs may commit a murder because they anxiety of the drug caused them to...