Contexts of Drug Enforcement: Investigating Felony Drug Sales Arrests and Case Processing in Fulton County, Georgia

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

This panel provides an overview of preliminary research on the Contexts of Drug Enforcement (CODE) project which is focused on examining drug policy, drug enforcement, and case processing in Fulton County, Georgia. Data on all closed felony drug selling cases involving adult offenders arrested in 2008 are used to explore the geographic distribution of drug sales in relation to the location of drug-free zones, the plea bargaining processes and disparities in case dispositions across space, and temporal and seasonal rhythms in law enforcement efforts based on the geography of both child- and adult-centered activity spaces.

Sub Unit

• Area I. Causes of Crime and Criminal Behavior / 6. Neighborhood Effects and Urban Change

Individual Presentations

• Selling Drugs in the City and the Suburbs: An Exploratory Analysis of the Geography of Arrests - Elizabeth Griffiths, Rutgers University; Yasemin Irvin-Erickson, Rutgers University; Sarah Trocchio, Rutgers University; Walter Campbell, Rutgers University

• A Good Deal? Assessing the Benefits and Burdens of Plea Bargains to Defendants Charged with Drug Selling Activities - Sarah Trocchio, Rutgers University; Elizabeth Griffiths, Rutgers University

• Selling through the Seasons: An Assessment of the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Drug-Free Zone Arrests - Walter Campbell, Rutgers University; Elizabeth Griffiths, Rutgers University

Chair

• Elizabeth Griffiths, Rutgers University