Biasing Influences on Drug Arrest Records

Implications for Deviance Research

Bibliographic Data

ID4957045
AuthorsLois B Defleur (corresponding author)
Year1975
Volume40
Issue1
Pages88
Publication date1975-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2094449
PMID1122077
OpenAlexW2330407149
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited13

Despite repeated demonstrations that a variety of factors bias official records, such records are widely used in deviance research. The crucial issue relating to such use is whether biasing factors are random (tending to cancel each other out) or systematic (reducing validity for research to unacceptable degrees). Deviance statistics are generated in contexts whose numerous biasing factors can distort the occurrence rates of deviant acts. This study examines the influence of such factors on drug arrest records in Chicago. Three decades of arrests were studied and related to findings from extensive field research in the Narcotics Division of the Chicago Police. Drug arrest statistics for both whites and nonwhites revealed distinct trends and distributions over time and space. These patterns reflect systematic biases in the operations of police assigned to the Narcotics Division. These and other such biases argue that we ought not to rely on indices of drug activity derived from arrest records

Criminology · Deviance (statistics · Drug · Psychiatry · Computer Science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Psychology · Social Psychology

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