An Empirical Study of the School Zone Anti-Drug Law in Three Cities in Massachusetts

Abstract

This study reviewed the role of a law providing enhanced penalties for drug dealing within 1,000 feet of a school in 443 drug-dealing cases in three cities in Massachusetts: Fall River, New Bedford, and Springfield. We reviewed district attorneys' case files and mapped drug-dealing incidents using a combination of geographic information systems and location visits with a hand-held geographic positioning system. School zones -the areas within 1,000 feet of schoolscover 29% of the areas of the study cities and 56% of the high-poverty areas within the cities. Although less than 1% of the drug-dealing cases involved sales to minors, approximately 80% of the cases occurred within school zones, apparently because of the density of schools in high-poverty/high-drug-dealing areas. Most school zone cases are "broken down" -defendants plead to lesser charges and receive less than the two-year mandatory minimum sentence for dealing in a school zone. Decisions to "break down" charges are not influenced by proximity to schools or time of day. Most drug dealers commit their offenses close to home, and most dealers charged with dealing in school zones reside in school zones. Overlapping school zone boundaries are chaotic and confusing in the inner city areas studied. The school zone statute fails to push drug dealing away from schools: the density of dealing within 250 feet of schools is similar to the density of dealing at greater distances.

Measuring Diffusion of Assaults Around Bars Through Radius and Adjacency Techniques

“…Their discussion of morphology and concentric boundaries is intriguing in that it lays the foundation for asking whether how one measures dispersion is as important as whether one measures it. Although in some cases, these zones may be constructed using measurements that conform to a particular city (Weisburd & Green, 1995, for example, used a two-block radius), others have used the arbitrary but policy-driven 500-or 1000-foot radius, particularly to evaluate legislative policies (see Brownsberger, Aromaa, Brownsberger, & Brownsberger, 2004).…”

The U.S. Drug Policy Landscape: Insights and Opportunities for Improving the View

“…For example, it turns out that substantial portions of cities can fall within the designated distance of a school (Brownsberger et al, 2004), so these drug-free school zones may increase punitiveness overall, not create a risk differential between more-and less-noxious dealing.…”

Towards a harm‐reduction approach to enforcement

“…In many cities the schools are dense enough and the zone around each school so large that much of the city lies inside the zones (eg. Brownsberger, 2001). It may be that specifying time limits for the zone (such as covering school hours plus two hours before and after) would make it a more effective tool.…”