A report by the National Center for Education Statistics finds that, in 2007, about 1.5 million students between the ages of 12 to 18 were victims of nonfatal crimes at school. About 85% of public schools recorded at least one violent crime, theft or other crime during the 2007-2008 school year.
Prisoners suffering from mental illness or showing its symptoms are common among criminal justice populations. The potential relationship between crime and mental illness could have important policy implications, particularly if increased more widespread mental health treatment could prove to have wide effects on rates of criminality.
Drunk driving is the leading cause of motor vehicle deaths in the United States, and hundreds of thousands of alcohol-related automobile accidents continue to take place each year. Many studies have explored the impacts of alcohol taxes and traffic laws on the incidence of these crashes.
The surge in U.S. methamphetamine use began in 2001 and peaked in 2005, when federal legislation was passed to target the drug. For a time, law enforcement appeared to get the upper hand and the problem began, relatively speaking, to subside. One vexing issue remains that the drug’s core chemical ingredients, such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, are commonly found in legal drugs available in stores.
Longer prison sentences, the result of public policy shifts over the past 30 years, may effectively discourage crime and repeat offenders. However, increased lengths of incarceration may have significant implications for convicted persons as they attempt to reintegrate into society after release.
