NIJ’s Drugs and Crime Research Portfolio supports research, evaluation, data collection, and dissemination to address drug-related issues in the criminal justice system, with the goal to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement, courts, and corrections in responding to illegal drug markets and criminal behavior associated with illicit drug use.
Although public safety and public health responses have curbed the historic rise in opioid overdoses in recent years, illicit drug markets and associated criminal activity continue to have a profound impact on public health. The evolving dynamics of these markets — including increasing internet distribution, illicit synthetic drug manufacturing, and organized crime — have devastating consequences for individuals and communities. NIJ sponsors rigorous applied research on drugs and crime to inform the development of evidence-based tools, practices, and policies for state, tribal, and local law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies to address illegal drug markets and criminal behavior associated with illicit drug use.
NIJ’s Drugs and Crime Research Portfolio has five major focus areas:
- Epidemiology: patterns and relationships between drugs, violence, and crime to inform communities and service providers.
- Drug markets : dynamics of drug production and distribution in domestic and border markets to inform law enforcement.
- Market disruption: interdiction and other strategies to deter and disrupt drug markets through law enforcement and prosecution.
- Prevention and intervention: policies and programs to prevent, deter, or reduce drug-related crime.
The Drugs and Crime Research Portfolio encompasses a broad range of scientific disciplines and targets both supply and demand. Epidemiological studies include longitudinal surveys to examine interactions between substance use, delinquency or criminal behavior, and victimization over years. These studies may involve forensic toxicology and seized drug testing methods, public health and safety data analysis, or public or law enforcement surveillance technologies.
Studies in other areas employ quantitative and qualitative methods requiring expertise in computer science, geospatial and statistical modeling, program evaluation, and policy analysis. For example, prevention and intervention studies range from randomized controlled trial field experiments to quasi-experimental designs using statistical controls. These studies examine the process, impact, and cost-efficiency of different programs using data from treatment records, observation, interviews, and other contextual information. Drug market and disruption studies involve analyzing information on trafficking and retail markets from different sources (e.g., users and sellers, law enforcement, and virtual online drug markets) to improve target identification and case development. Many projects involve state and local law enforcement, as well as federal taskforces to access timely information and feedback. Researchers generate work products for those sites and other jurisdictions, such as guidance on drug-related death investigations, tools to collect information on clearnet and darknet drug markets, and novel methods and devices.
Research Priority 1: Identify patterns between drugs and crime to understand public safety and health trends and their nexus with violence and other criminal activity.
| Number | Question |
|---|---|
| Research Question 1.1 | What is the prevalence of substance use, mental health, and co-occurring disorders among youths and adults in juvenile and criminal justice systems? |
| Research Question 1.2 | How can drug use and other drug indicator data be analyzed alongside crime and victimization data to identify patterns like drug-related violence? |
| Research Question 1.3 | What is the nexus between drug trafficking and other criminal activity, including human trafficking, illegal guns, and other emerging drug market trends? |
Research Priority 2: Advance prevention and intervention programs and practices that reduce drug use, associated violence, and overdoses.
| Number | Question |
|---|---|
| Research Question 2.1 | What are the effects of naloxone, drug test strips, and other field-based overdose prevention responses used by law enforcement teams on overdose risk? |
| Research Question 2.2 | What are the effects of first responder deflection programs on overdoses, arrests, and child placement outcomes? |
| Research Question 2.3 | What are the effects of telehealth and other innovations on medication and counseling treatment services and outcomes in jail and correctional settings? |
Priority 3: Advance strategies to identify and analyze drug markets and their dynamics in street-level, interstate, and virtual online marketplaces for actionable drug intelligence.
| Number | Question |
|---|---|
| Research Question 3.1 | How do black markets operate in states where drugs are regulated, and how are regulated drug markets exploited for trafficking to other states? |
| Research Question 3.2 | What are efficient strategies for law enforcement to identify and collect evidence related to illicit drug trade on clearnet and darknet websites? |
| Research Question 3.3 | What are effective strategies for data analysts and epidemiologists to collect drug intelligence, document drug distribution networks, and target-related organized crime? |
Priority 4: Advance drug market disruption strategies that support drug prohibition and prosecution to reduce related violence and other criminal activity in rural, border, and other jurisdictions.
| Number | Question |
|---|---|
| Research Question 4.1 | How can rural and other resource-limited jurisdictions enhance their drug intelligence capacity, and which tools are most effective for case building? |
| Research Question 4.2 | What are efficient strategies for law enforcement, medical examiners, and prosecutors to collaborate on drug overdose homicides and other related offenses? |
| Research Question 4.3 | What are efficient strategies to track illicit firearms distributed or trafficked in association with drug markets, and to identify opportunities for interdiction? |
Reports -
- Oklahoma Methamphetamine Data Initiative: Final Research Report
- Interactive Computer-Assisted Recovery Enabler (ICARE): Treatment Support and Monitoring Tool for Substance-Using Offenders
- The SECI Model and Darknet Markets: Knowledge Creation in Criminal Organizations and Communities of Practice
- Supporting Law Enforcement and Prosecution of Opioid-Related Overdose Deaths
- Wastewater Epidemiology to Examine Stimulant Trends (WeTEST)
Datasets -
Use the links below to find additional information and resources related to human trafficking.