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 extre mely low compared with those in the United States. The results show th at heroin accounts for most of the drug seizures in Taiwan. Moreover, a typical drug offender in Taiwan tends to be an unemployed or blue-co llar employed male under 40 years old with at least a junior high scho ol education. Using multiple regression techniques, the article report s that the gini coefficient and the strength of law enforcement signif icantly contribute to the explanation of drug crime in Taiwan. These r esults support the economic inequality and crime industry perspectives that claim that inequalities in income, property, and power relations hips are key to understanding the production of drug crime in Taiwan.