Statistical data indicating a rise in white homicides may not specify the catalyst(s) motivating Caucasian murders but some criminologists theorize the use of opioids may be the influence to explain the increased number of white homicides.
University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) Criminologist Richard Rosenfeld believes the opioid epidemic is a qualified dynamic factoring into the percentage of Caucasian homicides comparable to that of African-American homicides. Dr. Rosenfeld’s research optics are in the scope of identifying “the social sources of violent crime, crime statistics, and crime control policy. His current research focuses on explaining U.S. crime trends.”
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) study “Assessing and Responding to the Recent Homicide Rise in the United States” published in November 2017 underscores the correlation between increased crime rates and the use of opioids. NIJ researchers led by Dr. Rosenfeld sought to examine “two explanations of the homicide rise as guides for future research: (1) expansion in illicit drug markets brought about by the heroin and synthetic opioid epidemic and (2) widely referenced ‘Ferguson effects’ resulting in de-policing, compromised police legitimacy, or both.”
The racial dynamic arising from the NIJ study is intriguing: “Larger increases in drug-related homicides than in other types of homicide provide preliminary evidence that expansions in illicit drug markets contributed to the overall homicide rise. The current drug epidemic is disproportionately concentrated in the white population, and homicides have increased among whites as well as among African-Americans and Hispanics. We surmise, therefore, that the drug epidemic may have had an especially strong influence on the rise in homicide rates among whites.”
The Crime Report excerpted the numerical context, reporting that “Nationally, 2014-2015 saw the largest percentage rise in the homicide rate since 1968, according to FBI data.”
“There is no reason to believe that whites would be immune to the systemic violence that almost inevitably accompanies underground commerce in prohibited substances.”
As Dr. Rosenfeld puts it, “There is no reason to believe that whites would be immune to the systemic violence that almost inevitably accompanies underground commerce in prohibited substances.” Ding-ding. Law enforcement officers are a validated source to attest to his assertion based on his research skills coupled with cops’ street experiences. Narcotics do not discriminate.
The United States is a thoroughly diversified country comprised of all races and every ethnicity imaginable culminating in a mosaic of cultures. As a nation among nations, we are rated numero uno in terms of countries with the highest opioid consumption.
Of course, these statistics mostly emphasize known drug manufacturing quantities and prescription-level dispensation..but do not likely attribute data regarding street-level illicit sales, the quantities of which are black market and therefore a shot in the dark. Therein lies the dilemma. The user-crave (addiction) to acquire the feel-good, escapism provided by opioids has ramifications born of need-to-have mindsets. Like most contraband, drug acquisition comes with a dose of danger. And that is the correlate the NIJ study purports.
The user-crave (addiction) to acquire the feel-good, escapism provided by opioids has ramifications born of need-to-have mindsets.
Since we speak of the “opioid epidemic” on a national level, what are state and/or local governments doing to quell the human misery and destruction?
S.O.A.P.
On a state-level, to combat the ravages and homicides stemming from the underground drug trade, North Carolina has created a program called State Opioid Action Plan (SOAP) whereby it seeks to put the brakes on opioid addiction.
In June 2017, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper stated, “Opioid addiction and overdose have ravaged the physical and mental health of thousands of North Carolinians, hurting our people and our economy, and we’re taking action to fight it. With this legislation and the new State Opioid Action Plan, we’re taking important first steps to stem the opioid epidemic.”
Governor Roy Cooper signed into law the state’s proactive measures to defeat the chronic decay of lives stemming from opioid use/abuse. SOAP is one such initiative coupled with Strengthen Opioid Misuse Prevention (STOP) Act. Indeed these two programs are rightly legislated for an evident dilemma, but neither does much for the underground market selling opioids illegally for which the masses flock, thus creating volatile conditions emphasized in the NIJ study.
Calling it the “exit drug,” the American Journal of Public Health conducted a study in 2017 in which Colorado’s cannabis laws seem to have myriad benefits. The study purports that opioid users transitioning to marijuana use found it as a salvation and a departure away from opioid addiction. Logically, such a change or step-down equates to transplantation away from violence surrounding opioid acquisition/use, practically eliminating white homicides attributed to the street-level scourge. 
Dr. Adie Poe posted the aforementioned graph illustrating Colorado’s cannabis permissions supplanting opioid overdoses. Dr. Poe postulated: “THIS IS MASSIVE! Since 2014 we’ve known that *medical* #cannabis laws are associated with fewer #opioid deaths. In a landmark study, researchers have now demonstrated that RECREATIONAL cannabis is also correlated with a significant decline in opioid overdoses! #Legalization saves lives!” Although Dr. Poe’s pitch is more cannabis-leaning, it does raise the specter of opioid use claiming lives like a fever-pitch monster. And those addicted to painkillers seem positioned to go the distance to get their drug of choice, even if it means taking another life while they diminish their own.
Synonymously, one can imagine what cannabis over opioid use can achieve in terms of illegally-acquired synthetic painkillers and the inherent violence born of the drug-dealing trade. In the case of the NIJ study and criminologists’ suppositions, namely UMSL’s Dr. Rosenfeld, is cannabis a viable answer to the dismal nature surrounding increased homicides among Caucasian opioid abusers?
Attesting as a cop, killings over drugs occur frequently enough on a local level. Nationally, Dr. Rosenfeld’s numbers have merit.
A piece written by Dr. Rosenfeld titled “The Rise of White Homicide: What Analysts Have Missed” chronicles what we have been discussing. “Between 2014 and 2016, the number of white homicide victims increased by 22 percent—not too far off the 29 percent increase in black victims,” Dr. Rosenfeld claims. As with all studies, what his research engenders is the question Why?
“It’s possible that a pullback in proactive policing could have spurred crime increases among whites, but it seems wise to search for additional reasons for the white homicide rise—such as the opioid epidemic.”
Dr. Rosenfeld hypothesized: “It’s possible that a pullback in proactive policing could have spurred crime increases among whites, but it seems wise to search for additional reasons for the white homicide rise—such as the opioid epidemic.
“The skyrocketing increase in demand for heroin and synthetic opioids is disproportionately concentrated in the white population. For that reason or others, the opioid epidemic has been treated as a public health crisis rather than a criminal justice problem,” Dr. Rosenfeld points out.
The Department of Justice and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions publicized bulletins and videos regarding the “opioid epidemic.” On November 29, 2017 AG Sessions elucidated Drug Enforcement Administration plans to combat the opioid scourge. However, whereas Dr. Rosenfeld highlighted that the opioid monster is being analyzed “as a public health crisis” and not necessarily “a criminal justice problem,” AG Sessions addresses the dilemma as “a public health emergency.”
Furthermore, AG Sessions announced that “President Trump understands this and has a passion for this issue. He has taken the rare step of declaring a public health emergency, and requested more than $1 billion in anti-opioid efforts in the President’s FY 2018 budget.” He added, “the [Justice] Department will continue to back the blue. I am announcing more than $12 million in grants to state and local law enforcement agencies across America to take heroin methamphetamines, cocaine, and other illicit drugs off our streets.”
Naturally, funding for law enforcement efforts to grab the opioid dilemma by the throat and choke it off is necessary.
Naturally, funding for law enforcement efforts to grab the opioid dilemma by the throat and choke it off is necessary. But, I do not see $12 million going very far as it relates to street crime-fighting. And if that is exactly the gist of the NIJ study (homicides spawned by illicit drug markets), the local law enforcement thrust may be short-changed. Frankly, $12 million disbursed among the approximately 18,500 police agencies across America is a mere pittance.
Credibly, however, is the Justice Department’s potential impacts made by its Drug Enforcement Administration “announcing a restructuring at the DEA, with the establishment of the first new Field Division in nearly 20 years” bolstered by “ordering all of our U.S. Attorney offices to designate an opioid coordinator to serve as a kind of quarterback of our anti-opioid efforts in their community.” Both of these initiatives can have potentially widespread effect in both opioid overdoses as well as homicides related to underground drug sources. President Trump’s $1 billion allocation to see it through is an enhancement.
Whether you view it as a public health issue or a criminal justice system challenge, considering it overall as a fusion of the two seems more prudent.
Whether you view it as a public health issue or a criminal justice system challenge, considering it overall as a fusion of the two seems more prudent. Indeed, we are witnessing an unprecedented number of lives lost due to opioid overdose while, as Dr. Rosenfeld’s research team weighed, we are also encountering an alarming number of homicides stemming from the desperate measures and violence endemic in the illicit drug trade.
The NIJ researchers suggest caveat studies be undertaken with “data that is disaggregated by race, in order to ‘determine whether, as expected, whites have entered local drug markets in greater numbers over time as both buyers and sellers.'”
As mentioned earlier, Dr. Rosenfeld et al. raise the specter of the “Ferguson Effect” as a potential contributor to the increase in white homicides. Yet, the research team does not wholeheartedly commit to the notion. “The extent of de-policing [brought about by the Ferguson Effect] and its possible connection to the recent homicide rise remain open research questions,” the NIJ study suggested.
Are opioids the nexus of violence among Caucasians, or are we missing a beat? Have beat cops sidestepped as defined by the Ferguson Effect? I do not see the latter. Police cohorts are deeply wary of the severe climate against cops nowadays, but not to the extent of not doing The Job.
