Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...
Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ... Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...
562criminal act in his lifetime. Yet only 79 percent had arrest records.I think that is significant in terms of the total projection of what drugabuse and drug experimenting means with regard to crime statistics.The fact is, of course, that there are mitold numbers of crimes that^o unreported. Even among those are are reported, the studies indicatethat they are largely unrecorded. It isestimated, as you willsee, that perhaps only once out of every 120 times that a convictaddict,if I can use that phrase, is arrested and convicted of a crime,only once out of 120 times that he actually commits a crime will suchan arrest and conviction be actually recorded—a startling disclosure,as you will see when you examine these submissions.Mr. John Ingersoll recently estimated that the total drain on thenational economy by reason of heroin addiction is as high as possibly$3.5 billion, including, of course, the cost of crimes committed andthe law enforcement costs. The Urban Center of Columbia Universitysaid in a recent study that the cost of narcotics-related crime in Harlemalone runs as high as $1.8 billion. Now, we do not suggest thatthese conclusions or these figures are contradictory; we do suggestthat they again emphasize the importance of reexamining our priorities,particularly since the traditional cost of crime estimates, let uscall themChairman Pepper. Mr. Rangel of Harlem has just come in. Wouldyou repeat that statement you just made, Mr. Jones?Mv. Jones. I am sure it comes as no surprise, but the reference,Mr. Rangel, was to a recent statement by Mr. John Ingersoll to theeffect that the total drain on the national economy caused by drugaddiction is e.stimated at some $3.5 billion, including the cost of crimeand the law enforcement costs. In a similar study, I just stated, theUrban Center of Columbia University reported that the cost of narcotics-relatedcrime in the Harlem area alone nms as high as $1.8billion.Now, this is exclusive of the costs of law enforcement and crimeprevention.Mr. Murphy. Commisisoner, may I ask one question at this point?What percentage of the total crime in New York do you think is drugrelated ?Mr. Jones. Dr. Chambers?Dr. Chambers. It would be impossible to estimate. We feel comfortablewith the estimates that have been made, 50 to 60 percent ofall crimes attributed to the addict. I would feel more comfortabletalking about what we do know as opposed to what we do not know.What we do know is that each of the addicts who is on the street,excluding the hidden user—the individual who still maintains employment,ct cetera—the street addict is committing 120 crimes forevery one that he is being arrested for. For every one that he is arrestedfor, only half of those result in a conviction. We feel morecomfortable with that. You can take and multiply by the number ofstreet addicts that are cuiTently being projected, but it is impossibleto estimate the dollar cost of this, because the individual may bestealing things that today sell for more than they will sell fortomorrow.I think more important than the dollar cost, or at least as important,is that there appears to be an evolution in the type and amount or
563crime being committed. The same study involving the hidden, unreportedcrime, also indicated that 65 percent of this group had crimesagainst the person in their history. We have traditionally grown up, Ithink, with the idea that the heroin addict is a passive, dependentindividual who commits property crime. He does indeed commit propertycrime, but he also commits crimes against the person. What apparentlyis happening, and I use "apparently" advisedly, he leaveshis house in the morning and he commits that crime which presentsitself. If it happens to be a mugging, that is what gets committed.If it happens to be a purse snatching, that is what gets committed.We can no longer predict and, therefore, assign enforcement on thebasis of what we knew about the old heroin street addict.Mr. Murphy. Thank you very much.Chairman Pepper. Excuse me just a minute. Dr. Robert Dupont,director of the narcotics treatment administration in the District,also estimated about 50 percent of the homicides were committed bydrug addicts. Have you any comment on that ?Dr. Chambers. Yes, sir; I heard you mention that earlier. I wasnot aware of that figure. We do not have a comparable figure, but itwill not be long until we do, now that you have mentioned that.Chairman Pepper. Thank you.Mr. JoisTES. With regard to the cost of crime estimates, the addedpoint that I would like to make is that most of these estimates, gentlemen,fail to include the incalculable losses suffered by the victimsof these crimes—whatever the percentage might be. CongressmanMurphy, of those crimes that are committed by addicts. In New York,we recognize and try to reflect a growing concern for the innocentvictims of crimes, whether they be committed by addicts or nonaddicts.They help swell the figures, you see, that I think reasonablyshould be considered in assessing estimated costs of crime.In Xew York, for example, in the current fiscal year, we have appropriated$2.2 million to aid the victims of violent crimes under aprogram that was recently launched.Just a few more observations with regard to the text, Mr. Chairman.As you will see, further studies indicate, and this one is somewhatstartling, that among the numbers of students in a ninth gradeclass—and if I am not mistaken. Dr. Chambers, this was not a classin New York City, this was a surburban area—but among the membersof a ninth grade class, 27 percent of them used drugs or drugsand alcohol. Some 24 percent of them used alcohol alone, and the resteither had no drug abuse or different kinds of drugs. Altogether, therewere 12 different kinds of drugs that were admittedly used by membersof this ninth grade class that was surveyed, indicating that theproblem is not only spreading outward, but it is seeping furtherdownward among the age groups like a deep, heaA^ fog settling overthe lives of blighted youngsters in the metropolitan area where thissurvey was made.Mr. Perito. Commissioner, was that study made in WestchesterCounty ?Dr. Chambers. These figures do not relate to Westchester County.We actually did 65,000 instruments in the State, in counties throughoutthe State. This happens to be an upstate suburban area.
- Page 531 and 532: 511Chairman Pepper. Has the Food an
- Page 533 and 534: 513]Mr. Steiger. Do you feel from y
- Page 535 and 536: 515In this second study there was a
- Page 537 and 538: 517were any significant differences
- Page 539: 519The Deceptive Communication and
- Page 542 and 543: .522than a State psychiatric hospit
- Page 544 and 545: 524Department of Mental Hygiene), R
- Page 546 and 547: TABLE 3—COMPARISON OF THE 1ST POS
- Page 548 and 549: 528TABLE 10—RELATIONSHIP OF AGE T
- Page 550 and 551: 530tution and his involvement in th
- Page 552 and 553: Attachment No. 5;r\ N-CH,-CH=CHo ,
- Page 554 and 555: '-534Chart No. U (case No. 672)Disp
- Page 556 and 557: 536Chart No. 4 (case No. 694)Illust
- Page 558 and 559: 538Chart No. 35 {case No. 697)Excep
- Page 560 and 561: 540This amount of heroin is roughly
- Page 562 and 563: 5msuccessful or not in that short a
- Page 564 and 565: 544Chairman Pepper. Would you repea
- Page 566 and 567: 54^creased amount of licit as well
- Page 568 and 569: —54Sand the bureaucracy and the a
- Page 570 and 571: ,,Mr.550you have used some of the s
- Page 572 and 573: 552so many areas is also a pitiful
- Page 574 and 575: 55,4nitiide of heroin addiction in
- Page 576 and 577: 556reached $976.5 billion, we can w
- Page 578 and 579: 558Mr. Jones was appointed to the c
- Page 580 and 581: 560cant when you consider that Out
- Page 584 and 585: —564Mr. Perito. Would it be fair
- Page 586 and 587: 566Now, Dr. Cliambers, can yon resp
- Page 588 and 589: —568Mr. Raxgel. Our distinguished
- Page 590 and 591: ;-570Mr. Jones. That is correct. Ou
- Page 592 and 593: 572the commissioner, $186 million i
- Page 594 and 595: 574there should be something in the
- Page 596 and 597: 576and the way in which the funds a
- Page 598 and 599: 57SDr. Chambers. I think wliat you
- Page 600 and 601: 580Education is the best way of pre
- Page 602 and 603: 58-2Certain essential facts must re
- Page 604 and 605: 584done through determined action,
- Page 606 and 607: 586druffs, has the Nation's largest
- Page 608 and 609: :588To repeat, methadone maintenanc
- Page 610 and 611: :590I believe the Federal Governmen
- Page 612 and 613: :take no such satisfaction. We have
- Page 614 and 615: 594of value in the testimony you ha
- Page 616 and 617: 596gone ahead with several. We have
- Page 618 and 619: 598force within our State Police De
- Page 620 and 621: 60PRased on the proposed goal of 2.
- Page 622 and 623: 602STATEMENT OF HON. MILTON SIIAPP,
- Page 624 and 625: (51)4and apprehend the wholesalers
- Page 626 and 627: J'606[Exhibit No. 23Prepared Statem
- Page 628 and 629: 608Under our 1071-72 budget proposa
- Page 630 and 631: GIOcenters for the treatment of her
562criminal act in his lifetime. Yet only 79 percent had arrest records.I think that is significant in terms of the total projection of what drugabuse <strong>and</strong> drug experimenting means with regard to crime statistics.The fact is, of course, that there are mitold numbers of crimes that^o unreported. Even among those are are reported, the studies indicatethat they are largely unrecorded. It isestimated, as you willsee, that perhaps only once out of every 120 times that a convictaddict,if I can use that phrase, is arrested <strong>and</strong> convicted of a crime,only once out of 120 times that he actually commits a crime will suchan arrest <strong>and</strong> conviction be actually recorded—a startling disclosure,as you will see when you examine these submissions.Mr. John Ingersoll recently estimated that the total drain on thenational economy by reason of heroin addiction is as high as possibly$3.5 billion, including, of course, the cost of crimes committed <strong>and</strong>the law enforcement costs. The Urban Center of Columbia Universitysaid in a recent study that the cost of narcotics-related crime in Harlemalone runs as high as $1.8 billion. Now, we do not suggest thatthese conclusions or these figures are contradictory; we do suggestthat they again emphasize the importance of reexamining our priorities,particularly since the traditional cost of crime estimates, let uscall themChairman Pepper. Mr. Rangel of Harlem has just come in. Wouldyou repeat that statement you just made, Mr. Jones?Mv. Jones. I am sure it comes as no surprise, but the reference,Mr. Rangel, was to a recent statement by Mr. John Ingersoll to theeffect that the total drain on the national economy caused by drugaddiction is e.stimated at some $3.5 billion, including the cost of crime<strong>and</strong> the law enforcement costs. In a similar study, I just stated, theUrban Center of Columbia University reported that the cost of narcotics-relatedcrime in the Harlem area alone nms as high as $1.8billion.Now, this is exclusive of the costs of law enforcement <strong>and</strong> crimeprevention.Mr. Murphy. Commisisoner, may I ask one question at this point?What percentage of the total crime in New York do you think is drugrelated ?Mr. Jones. Dr. Chambers?Dr. Chambers. It would be impossible to estimate. We feel comfortablewith the estimates that have been made, 50 to 60 percent ofall crimes attributed to the addict. I would feel more comfortabletalking about what we do know as opposed to what we do not know.What we do know is that each of the addicts who is on the street,excluding the hidden user—the individual who still maintains employment,ct cetera—the street addict is committing 120 crimes forevery one that he is being arrested for. For every one that he is arrestedfor, only half of those result in a conviction. We feel morecomfortable with that. You can take <strong>and</strong> multiply by the number ofstreet addicts that are cuiTently being projected, but it is impossibleto estimate the dollar cost of this, because the individual may bestealing things that today sell for more than they will sell fortomorrow.I think more important than the dollar cost, or at least as important,is that there appears to be an evolution in the type <strong>and</strong> amount or