SPECIFYING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARRESTEE DRUG TEST RESULTS
Smith, Douglas A., & Polsenberg, Christina. (1992). Specifying the relationship between arrestee drug test results and recidivism. The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 83(2), 364 377.
The abstract accurately described the problem investigated in the study reported in the article. The abstract also identified the major issues relevant to the problem investigated. The abstract, however, did not state the findings of the study reported in the article, nor did the abstract report the conclusions drawn from those findings.
The introduction to the article provided a background discussion on the relationship between the use of proscribed drugs and criminal activity. In this discussion, however, the authors used such terms as "seriousness of drug use," and "criminal behavior," without simultaneously quantifying the terms to enable the read adequately assess the claimed relationships between the terms. In stating the problem that was investigated in the study reported in the article, the authors attempted to link positive drug test results at the time of arrest with future arrests for a different crime by citing the findings of earlier studies. Unfortunately, the cited relationships often included drug use variables that were not clearly identified as positive drug test results obtained at the time of arrest. This cloudiness of specification created doubt in the mind of the reader about the precise nature of the drug use variable that was being investigated. Many of the earlier studies cited by the authors clearly did not use positive drug test results at the time of arrest as a variable. In discussing the potential value for law enforcement of being able to predict future criminal behavior on the basis of positive drug test results at the time of arrest, the authors brushed over quite lightly the highly significant issue of the constit...