How Should We Wage the War on Drugs? Determinants of Public Preferences for Drug Control Alternatives.

When citizens are presented with alternative policy solutions to a given social problem, why do they choose to support one over another? In this article, the authors analyze a survey of residents of the five largest U.S. metropolitan areas to understand determinants of public support for spending on...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Policy Studies Journal Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 71 - 89
Autores principales: Timberlake, Jeffrey M., Lock, Eric D., Rasinski, Kenneth A.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell February 2003
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:When citizens are presented with alternative policy solutions to a given social problem, why do they choose to support one over another? In this article, the authors analyze a survey of residents of the five largest U.S. metropolitan areas to understand determinants of public support for spending on three major components of American drug control policy: law enforcement programs, rehabilitative services for addicts, and school-based prevention programs. The authors estimate effects of self-interest, political socialization, and policy attitudes on support for total drug control expenditures and on preferences for each drug control alternative versus the others. Effects of group self-interest, societal interest, and political socialization change dramatically across dimensions of support. Policy attitudes are strong predictors of both types of support, whereas individual self-interest measures are not associated with either dimension. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.