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This book presents a comprehensive examination of the drug control policy process in the United States. How are policy choices identified, debated and selected? How are the consequences of governmental policy measured and evaluated? How, if at all, do we learn from our mistakes. The first section deals with four different ways of understanding American drug policy: drug control as ideology, drugs as an issue of definition and measurement, an historical analysis of drug control, and finally, drug control as an occasion for debating the proper role of the criminal law. Zimring and Hawkins also discuss priority problems for drug control and provide a foundation for an improved policy process. They argue that protection of children and youth should shape policy toward illicit crime, with attention to the fact that youth protection objectives may limit the effectiveness of some drug controls.

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The critical importance of the criminal law as a threatening mechanism is restricted to those who must be threatened in order to secure their compliance. In regard to most "serious" crimes, the socialization process rather than the direct threat of a par ticular legal penalty keeps most people law abiding. Yet, in both the discussion of deterrence and the interpretation of movements in crime rates, this is often overlooked. The theoretical model dealing with "marginal groups" proposed here is designed to focus attention on this problem and enable us to comprehend and cope with it. It provides a frame of reference and an overall perspective for planning research in this field and for interpreting its results.