Course Title: Criminology in Modern Britain - Coursework Example

Criminology in Modern Britain Criminology in Modern Britain Introduction Researchers interested in criminology in Canada and most parts of England have established illicit drugs association and general crime as an issue of major concern. Previous literature has also proven that people who are under the influence of drugs do not commit all crimes, but some do it in order to acquire money and buy the drugs (Pansters, 2012). Most of the offenses related to drugs have been associated with organized crime operations, prostitution and street gangs. Costs related to the use of illegal drugs like those that are used for the police, correctional services and courts has been estimated to be of over $2 billion annually. The approach entails an inter-linked approach amongst the many government departments and the community stakeholders, and it entails three plans of action: prevention, treatment and law enforcement. A slight lack of enforcement plan has led to the introduction of mandatory minimum sentencing laws for any serious drug offenses introduced (Reed and Bohlander, 2011).
Criminology in Modern Britain
The use of data available from the uniform crime reporting survey tries to study the outlooks and the nature of police definitions of drug offenses in Britain (Pansters, 2012). The report looks at the long-term trends in the possession, reduction, importation and exportation of cannabis, heroin, cocaine and all other drug categories listed. The report also gives some valuable information from the ACCS and the YCCS ( adult criminal court survey and youth court survey respectively) on the major decisions made for sentencing those found guilty of drug offenses. The information presented in this report only reflects the cases that have been substantiated via investigations by the police.
The report suggests the possibilities of changing the laws will automatically lead to impacting the drug offense rate by categorizing some behaviors that were not in the past categorized as crimes to be crimes (Reed and Bohlander, 2011). Lots of Acts have been enacted including the 1997 controlled drugs and substance Act that replaced the previous narcotics control act and some important parts of the food and drugs Act. The new legislation has broadened the number of substances that are considered illegal and led to his introduction of the offense of production of any controlled substance (Steffen and Candelaria, 2010).
The existence of legal debates may also have an impact on the drug offense rates, in an example, the report looks at the decade’s rates of increase in the use of Marijuana and lots of concerns have been placed in disciplining the drug offenders at the house level (Steffen and Candelaria, 2010). The presence of legislation that tends to discriminate tiny amounts of hard drugs like cannabis was introduced in parliament by failure of legislating a particular law, the decline in the number of police reporting crime offences from the incidences looked at carefully. The report also says that an increase in the use of illegal drugs may also lead charges being buried by the police in their homestead (Stockwell, 2005). Some studies have pointed out that, the use illegal drugs over the times has risen from approximately 28% to about 45%. Bagh or cannabis from the report has been found to be the type of drug that is highly used, followed by hallucinogens, cocaine, heroin and speed (Stockwell, 2005).
Conclusion
The inverse of trend in offense and crime rates are said to be related to the police policies, the available resources, and charging practices. The police in most occasions tend to put more efforts on law enforcement than taking time in handling drugs-related crimes when the resources, time and priorities of the police permits them. The meaning of this is to address the issues when the other forms of crimes have been completely reduced.
References
Lyman, M. (n.d.). Drugs in society.
Pansters, W. (2012). Violence, coercion, and state-making in twentieth-century Mexico. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Reed, A. and Bohlander, M. (2011). Loss of control and diminished responsibility. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Pub.
Reviews, C. (2013). Studyguide for criminal investigation. [S.l.]: Cram101 Incorporated.
Steffen, G. and Candelaria, S. (2010). Drug Interdiction. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
Stockwell, T. (2005). Preventing harmful substance use. Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons. Read More