The Experts below are selected from a list of 249 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Thomas Kerr - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Public Health and Public Order Outcomes Associated with Supervised Drug Consumption Facilities: a Systematic Review
Current HIV AIDS Reports, 2017Co-Authors: Mary Clare Kennedy, Mohammad Karamouzian, Thomas KerrAbstract:Purpose of Review Supervised drug consumption facilities (SCFs) have increasingly been implemented in response to public health and public order concerns associated with illicit drug use. We systematically reviewed the literature investigating the health and community impacts of SCFs. Recent Findings Consistent evidence demonstrates that SCFs mitigate overdose-related harms and unsafe drug use behaviours, as well as facilitate uptake of addiction treatment and other health services among people who use drugs (PWUD). Further, SCFs have been associated with improvements in public order without increasing Drug-Related Crime. SCFs have also been shown to be cost-effective. Summary This systematic review suggests that SCFs are effectively meeting their primary public health and order objectives and therefore supports their role within a continuum of services for PWUD. Additional studies are needed to better understand the potential long-term health impacts of SCFs and how innovations in SCF programming may help to optimize the effectiveness of this intervention.
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Impact of a medically supervised safer injecting facility on drug dealing and other Drug-Related Crime
Substance abuse treatment prevention and policy, 2006Co-Authors: Evan Wood, Mark W. Tyndall, Calvin Lai, Julio S. G. Montaner, Thomas KerrAbstract:North America's first medically supervised safer injecting facility (SIF) recently opened in Vancouver, Canada. One of the concerns prior to the SIF's opening was that the facility might lead to a migration of drug activity and an increase in Drug-Related Crime. Therefore, we examined Crime rates in the neighborhood where the SIF is located in the year before versus the year after the SIF opened. No increases were seen with respect to drug trafficking (124 vs. 116) or assaults/robbery (174 vs. 180), although a decline in vehicle break-ins/vehicle theft was observed (302 vs. 227). The SIF was not associated with increased drug trafficking or Crimes commonly linked to drug use.
Patrick Tolan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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“Neighborhood Matters”: Assessment of Neighborhood Social Processes
American Journal of Community Psychology, 2014Co-Authors: David Henry, Deborah Gorman-smith, Michael Schoeny, Patrick TolanAbstract:Neighborhoods are important contexts for understanding development and behavior, but cost and difficulty have challenged attempts to develop measures of neighborhood social processes at the neighborhood level. This article reports the development, reliability, and validity of Neighborhood Matters, a collection of instruments assessing three aspects of neighborhood social processes, namely, norms (five subscales), informal social control (six subscales and total scale), social connection (two subscales), as well as individual scales for assessing neighborhood change, neighborhood resources, and neighborhood problems. Six hundred six residents of Chicago, chosen at random from 30 neighborhoods (defined by US Census tracts), completed the measures. Neighborhoods were selected randomly from pools that balanced poverty and predominant (African-American vs. Latino Hispanic) ethnicity. Within each neighborhood 20 individuals were selected at random, balanced by age (18–24 vs. 30+) and gender. Scaling and item analysis permitted reduction of the number of items in each scale. All subscales had individual-level internal consistency in excess of .7. Generalizability theory analysis using random effects regression models found significant shared variance at the neighborhood level for three norms subscales, four informal social control subscales, both social connection subscales, and the neighborhood change, resources and problems scales. Validity analyses found significant associations between neighborhood-level scores on multiple Neighborhood Matters scales and neighborhood levels of violent, property, and Drug-Related Crime. Discussion focuses on potential applications of the Neighborhood Matters scales in community research.
Alex Stevens - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Weighing up Crime: The Overestimation of Drug-Related Crime:
Contemporary Drug Problems, 2008Co-Authors: Alex StevensAbstract:This article explores the linkage of criminal harm to drug use and challenges prevalent overestimations of the proportion of Crime that can be causally attributed to drug use. These estimates often use data from surveyed arrestees. This article uses data from the British Offending, Crime and Justice Survey to test the hypothesis that drug users are over-represented in arrestee samples, compared to other offenders. Self-reported, surveyed offenders who had used illicit drugs were over two times as likely to be arrested as those who did not, even taking employment status and the type and frequency of offending into account. It is concluded that current methods for estimating Drug-Related Crime endanger the validity of measurements of Drug-Related harm, with damaging consequences for the analysis of drug policy and the stigmatization of drug users.
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Weighing up Crime: the over estimation of Drug-Related Crime
2008Co-Authors: Alex StevensAbstract:Background: It is generally accepted that harms from Crime cause a very large part of the total social harm that can be attributed to drug use. For example, Crime harms accounted for 70% of the weighting of the British Drug Harm Index in 2004. This paper explores the linkage of criminal harm to drug use and challenges the current overestimation of the proportion of Crime that can be causally attributed to drug use. It particularly examines the use of data from arrested drug users to estimate the quantity of Drug-Related Crime. Method: Multivariate, secondary analysis of data from the British Offending, Crime and Justice Survey is used to test the hypothesis that drug users are over-represented in arrest data, compared to other offenders. Results: It is found in logistic regression that the strongest predictor of arrest was not the frequency or type of offending, but whether an offender was in work or education. Offenders who have used illicit drugs were over two times as likely to be arrested as those who did not, even taking employment status and the type and frequency of offending into account. Conclusion: Current methods for estimating Drug-Related Crime endanger the validity of measurements of Drug-Related harm, with damaging consequences for the analysis of drug policy and the stigmatisation of drug users.
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When two dark figures collide: Evidence and discourse on Drug-Related Crime
Critical Social Policy, 2007Co-Authors: Alex StevensAbstract:This paper explores the socio-political construction of Drug-Related Crime; a concept that has dominated recent developments in UK drug policy. It has been assumed that the perceived overlap betwee...
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The Reduction of Drug-Related Crime: an overview of the global evidence
2005Co-Authors: Alex Stevens, Mike Trace, D. Bewley-taylorAbstract:The Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme (BFDPP) is a new initiative dedicated to providing a rigorous, independent review of the effectiveness of national and international drug policies. The aim of this programme of research and analysis is to assemble and disseminate material that supports the rational consideration of complex drug policy issues, and leads to a more effective management of the widespread use of psychoactive substances in the future.
Mary Clare Kennedy - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Public Health and Public Order Outcomes Associated with Supervised Drug Consumption Facilities: a Systematic Review
Current HIV AIDS Reports, 2017Co-Authors: Mary Clare Kennedy, Mohammad Karamouzian, Thomas KerrAbstract:Purpose of Review Supervised drug consumption facilities (SCFs) have increasingly been implemented in response to public health and public order concerns associated with illicit drug use. We systematically reviewed the literature investigating the health and community impacts of SCFs. Recent Findings Consistent evidence demonstrates that SCFs mitigate overdose-related harms and unsafe drug use behaviours, as well as facilitate uptake of addiction treatment and other health services among people who use drugs (PWUD). Further, SCFs have been associated with improvements in public order without increasing Drug-Related Crime. SCFs have also been shown to be cost-effective. Summary This systematic review suggests that SCFs are effectively meeting their primary public health and order objectives and therefore supports their role within a continuum of services for PWUD. Additional studies are needed to better understand the potential long-term health impacts of SCFs and how innovations in SCF programming may help to optimize the effectiveness of this intervention.
David Henry - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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“Neighborhood Matters”: Assessment of Neighborhood Social Processes
American Journal of Community Psychology, 2014Co-Authors: David Henry, Deborah Gorman-smith, Michael Schoeny, Patrick TolanAbstract:Neighborhoods are important contexts for understanding development and behavior, but cost and difficulty have challenged attempts to develop measures of neighborhood social processes at the neighborhood level. This article reports the development, reliability, and validity of Neighborhood Matters, a collection of instruments assessing three aspects of neighborhood social processes, namely, norms (five subscales), informal social control (six subscales and total scale), social connection (two subscales), as well as individual scales for assessing neighborhood change, neighborhood resources, and neighborhood problems. Six hundred six residents of Chicago, chosen at random from 30 neighborhoods (defined by US Census tracts), completed the measures. Neighborhoods were selected randomly from pools that balanced poverty and predominant (African-American vs. Latino Hispanic) ethnicity. Within each neighborhood 20 individuals were selected at random, balanced by age (18–24 vs. 30+) and gender. Scaling and item analysis permitted reduction of the number of items in each scale. All subscales had individual-level internal consistency in excess of .7. Generalizability theory analysis using random effects regression models found significant shared variance at the neighborhood level for three norms subscales, four informal social control subscales, both social connection subscales, and the neighborhood change, resources and problems scales. Validity analyses found significant associations between neighborhood-level scores on multiple Neighborhood Matters scales and neighborhood levels of violent, property, and Drug-Related Crime. Discussion focuses on potential applications of the Neighborhood Matters scales in community research.
