NCJ Number
83079
Journal
Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 12 Issue: 2 and 3 Dated: (Spring/Summer 1982) Pages: complete issues
Editor(s)
W R Blount
Date Published
1982
Length
176 pages
Annotation
Fourteen articles discuss various interrelation of alcohol, drugs, and crime, including data on adolescents and adults, estimates of addict crime, problems of female addicts, prevention and treatment, and the relationship of alcohol to other drugs in a given population.
Abstract
The articles examine major research issues and literature relevant to the relationship between crime and drugs and construct typologies for criminal and drug-using behavior. Obstacles to understanding the drug-crime relationship are discussed, and an abbreviated agenda for research is proposed. An examination of the relationship between substance abuse among females and crime patterns focuses on changing patterns of juvenile and adult female crime as well as traditional areas of female crime such as prostitution. A paper on the relationship between criminal behavior and drug use among male adolescents suggests that hard drug use is not a reliable index of criminality, since alcohol abuse is also an important variable. Other papers discuss substance abuse, nonconformity, and the inability to assume responsibility for problems; users, dealers, and criminal justice in Texas district courts; and lifetime criminality among heroin addicts in the United States. One study focuses on self-reported criminal involvement of 63 female heroin users in Miami, Fla., while another explores problems of female skid row residents. Further research topics are substance abuse among incarcerated female felons and the impact of the criminal justice system on substance abusers seeking help. Other articles consider detection of fraud in street studies of crime and drugs and present a model for predicting addicts' crime. Tables, figures, chapter references, and notes are provided. The issue includes book reviews.