First Advisor

Lindley, Don E.

Second Advisor

McGrath, Jack M.

College

College for Professional Studies

Degree Name

MS Criminology

School

School of Humanities & Social Sciences

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

49 pages

Abstract

Due to the ambiguity of constitutional amendments, multiple state legislations, and municipal ordinances, medical marijuana has become quite a contentious subject. Despite the fact that many Americans approve the use of medical marijuana, they are opposed to medical marijuana centers opening in their own neighborhoods. People are concerned about the "element" that these centers bring into their neighborhoods as a result of increased pedestrian and vehicle traffic, loitering, open display of drug usage, and the fear of organized crime; comparable to the theory of broken windows, where crime is invited into a community when the wrong element is allowed to enter. This study addressed resident perception between the presence of medical marijuana centers and perceived increased crime rates in Denver, Colorado neighborhoods. Furthermore, this project looked at whether the perception of increased crime is analogous across Denver neighborhoods of varying socio-economic status. However, after investigating further, the findings from this study discovered that the medical marijuana centers and perceived crime might be counterintuitive to what current belief is.

Date of Award

Summer 2011

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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