Identifying a drug use typology of Philadelphia arrestees: a cluster analysis

The Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) program is a measurement system established by the National Institute of Justice to test booked arrestees for illegal drug use. DUF has consistently shown high levels of illicit drug use among arrestees, including those charged with crimes unrelated to drug use. Measuring the extent and nature of this illicit drug use is essential to, first, determining how severe the drug problem is, and second, developing ideal methods for combating it. Part I of this analysis presents an overview of the drug/crime connection. Part II describes the methodology of the DUF project. Part III, first, describes the utility of clustering as a statistical tool, and second, identifies homogeneous clusters of drug users from a Philadelphia population of 1,329 arrestees. Part IV assesses the policy implications of these classifications.