The Drugs/Violence Nexus: A Subculture Of Violence

The Goldstein tripartite was created to show three types of drug related violence. “Goldstein…explained that, substance abuse leads to crime, via his popular tripartite conceptual framework… psychopharmacological model, economic compulsive model, and systemic violence model” (Sarker, S.K., & Faller, E.M., 2016). They are systemic violence, pharamacological violence, and economically compulsive violence. Systemic violence is when violence occurs between the seller and the buyer. “…violent acts that …exist within a network of illicit drug trafficking and distribution” (Levinthal, C.F., 2012), p.93. This behavior is normal in the drug world. Some systemic violence are disputes between dealers, dealers being robbed, removal of snitches, and collecting

Drugs and violence are universal. Although not all drugs cause violence some drugs like alcohol, methamphetamine, and crack cocaine do and can have horrible results. Some of the behavior that these drugs can cause are: domestic violence, sexual assault, homicides, and property crimes. Although horrible things do happen people still use them and crimes like these happen too much. This is a social issue because people see this as a norm. This shouldn't be a norm and people need to start realizing that.

The United States is the world’s number one consumer of narcotics and thus 90% of cocaine seized in the U.S. comes from Mexico due to the close geographical boundaries it is easy to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. from Mexico. The U.S.’s demand for narcotics and other drugs creates an 18-39 billion dollar market each year, all coming solely from drug sales. Drug violence is a direct result of protecting each business 's product. Cartels like the Zetas use violence to create a “brand” for their franchise. The violent cartels create a sense of fear so no one gets in their way and so others will comply with their wishes and demands.

Critics argue that legalization of certain drugs will not end the drug war and that instead, it will cause more violence and issues for the county’s well being. In the mid-1980’s the cocaine epidemic hit and a large amount of crime, deaths from overdoses and violence came with it. The result of this was laws being placed with minimum punishment for drug trafficking to attempt to control the issue. Throughout the early 1990s crime started to slowly decrease and in 2013 the amount of crime was reduced in half. One viewpoint is that once the title of being non-violent labeled drug traffickers crime started to rise anew. Some crimes included murders of innocent bystanders and more drug flow into the U.S (Cook1). William J. Bennett and John P. Walters, Boston Globe writers, complicate matters further when they write “For 25 years before President Obama, U.S policy confronted drug

The chapter directs this blame towards cartels and syndicates. My perspective was that gangs were the predominant users and thus would want to ensure that they were also the sellers. It goes on to state that even the once believed violence is often from other conflicts not directly associated with drugs (29). Tita and his colleagues document that most homicides with the involvement of drugs is in regards to quantity/quality issues (30). Again, I would have considered that due to drug withdrawals gang members would become quickly agitated and resort to violence more often in relation to the transactions involved to support

Drug users are outcast by society and drug dealers are viewed as dangerous and violent (Bertram et al., 1996).

Every property crime committed by a drug user is potentially a violent crime. Many victims are beaten, severely injured, and murdered each year. A New York City crack user murdered five people in an eight-day period to get the money to buy drugs. The user survived the crack, but his victims did not. So in actuality, the act of prohibiting drugs is to blame for so called “drug-related violence.” Legal drugs like morphine, alcohol, and a pack of smokes are more detrimental to the user and those around the user than one joint smoked a week. Plus, if pot were to be legalized, it would be regulated, and DUIs could be given to those who drive while high.

" Some people whose reasoning is affected by the consumption of narcotics commit murders under the effects of these substances. On the other hand, traffickers protect their business by using violence. Thus, it is obvious that drugs are a major reason why people make crime in society. crime has always had a close relationship with social justice. Inequalities in the same society often involve large doses of conflict and violence. The black and brown and poor communities are more exposed to crime leads me to think that they are poorer and less integrated than the rest of the country. In the United States there is a great economic chasm between a minority, almost indigent, and a very well-off

Although some people argue for the legalization of drugs, addiction to these substances has caused a huge increase in violent crimes in the home, at school, and on the street. Many people do not understand why individuals become addicted to drugs or how drugs change the brain to create compulsive drug abuse. They mistakenly view drug abuse and addiction as strictly a social problem and may characterize those who take drugs as morally weak. One very common belief is that drug abusers should be able to just stop taking drugs if they are only willing to change their behavior. This is a false and uneducated belief. Drug abuse may start as a social problem or social escape but one the addiction has taken ahold of a person

The subculture of southern violence theory is just one of many cultural transmissions theories discussed in Miller’s text. Cultural transmission theories determine that the values, beliefs, and norms of subcultures (deviant or no) contrast with the dominant culture. Therefore, it is possible for a subculture to justify criminal behavior as normal or necessary when it comes to one’s reputation and self-defense. Because the southern region of the United States is known to have high crime rates than other regions of the United States and as a whole, the subculture of violence theory was hypothesized by Wolfgang and Ferracuti during the late 1960s. Other researchers: Ball-Rokeach, 1973; Erlanger, 1974; and Hartnagel, 1980 theorized what factors may be the cause of the high crime rates in the southern region as well. This discussion will explore the implications of whether or not their findings adequately support the existence of the subculture of southern violence theory.

Drugs can also affect someone’s likelihood to commit crime because of the effects it has on the person while they are under the influence. Drug use can affect an individual’s speed, memory, alertness and reactions. Crimes related to drugs or alcohol may be the result of the effects that the substances have on their thought processes and behaviour which causes them to commit criminal activity.

A lot of people link drug abuse with crime, at times even with violent crime. This association comes from psychopharmacological association that imply that people may engage in criminal acts after taking some kind of substance known to undermine their judgment as well as self-control result in paranoid thoughts and distortion of inhibitions (Sewell, Poling and Sofuoglu, 189). Though all substances that affect the central nervous system might result in this kind of relationships, scientific information indicates that some type of drugs have a more strong effect than others. Such drugs are alcohol, cocaine, phencyclidine and amphetamines (McCauley, Ruggiero, Resnick and Kilpatrick, 136). Inversely, cannabis and heroin are less associated with desire to commit

There has always been a close association between drugs and crime. Drugs have been seen as a way out of suffering in one’s life and so as long as there is suffering there will always be a market for drugs. The struggle to keep one’s self sane when away from a substance they need can cause them to do crazy and even violent things to others. Things like murdering someone because they did not have proper control of themselves is not something unheard of by any means. These people can been seen as both victims and criminals, as they were not in a sound state of mind when doing these actions, however them doing the actions does not mean they should get off scot-free. The users are only one side of the coin, the other is the drug dealers. The dealers do not have to be selling purely illegal drugs, they may be selling prescription drugs too, but in the pursuit of their own survival in a struggling life, they turn to selling substances to others. By doing so they can even amass a fortune, but this is still a crime, and what people will do to try to get all this potential money can span from robbing to murder. The articles I read from different media support the fact there is indeed a tie with crime and drugs, being that an increase of drugs on the street leads to more crime.

Drug abuse and predatory criminality go hand in hand in a few, select social groups, while in others, drug abuse most often occurs without criminal behavior (other than the fact they’re doing drugs.) Despite what most might think, drug abuse typically follows predatory criminality. As drug abusers keep trying harder drugs due to necessity, the intensity of their criminal behavior escalates dramatically. When using more than one type of drug at one time, studies show that the frequency of criminal activity increases. But, when these drug offenders decrease the amount of drugs they put in their system, their rate of criminal activity also decreases, which shows that drugs can cause a person to commit crime. This shows that drug usage can cause crime and stopping drug usage can slow or even halt criminal activity.

     Do people ever think about the consequences about drug abuse? Not many of us do but we all know what it does to us. Drugs are harmful to the brain and the body system itself; they affect the heart in many ways and because of that people become unconscious as to what their actions are. They do not realize how badly they can harm the community around them. Drugs are normally used by those who are not involved in activities such as, religious clubs, sports, etc. The users are normally stressed out with life and at times they just need something to set their minds aside from problems which occur in their everyday life. There are many reasons as to why and how drugs affect the community around the drug user