Drug crime in Taiwan: A time-series analysis from 1965 to 1994

This article examines patterns and structural correlates of drug crime in postwar Taiwan, finding that drug arrest rates in Taiwan are extremely low compared with those in the United States. The results show that heroin accounts for most of the drug seizures in Taiwan. Moreover, a typical drug offender in Taiwan tends to be an unemployed or blue-collar employed male under 40 years old with at least a junior high school education. Using multiple regression techniques, the article reports that the gini coefficient and the strength of law enforcement significantly contribute to the explanation of drug crime in Taiwan. These results support the economic inequality and crime industry perspectives that claim that inequalities in income, property, and power relationships are key to understanding the production of drug crime in Taiwan.