Drugs, Crime and Criminal Justice (From Young Men and Drugs -- A Nationwide Survey, Research Monograph 5, P 81-97, 1976)

• NCJ Number: 156246
• Author(s): J A O'Donnell; H L Voss; R R Clayton; G T Slatin; R G W Room
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

Although the association between drug use and criminality is widely recognized, there is considerable disagreement concerning the nature of the relationship.

Abstract

Preliminary analysis of findings from several studies does not provide clear support for the idea that drug use leads to crime or that criminal activity leads to drug use. With the exception of prescription forgery and shoplifting, there appears to be no consistent temporal relation between drug use and criminal activity on which an argument for a causal link can be developed. Rather, the temporal order of marijuana use and a number of self-reported criminal acts seem to be a function of the age at which marijuana is first used. For several offenses, among men who admitted them as well as marijuana use, those who used marijuana by the age of 16 years reported they committed a criminal act for the first time a year later than the one in which they first used marijuana. In contrast, among men who used marijuana at the age of 17 years or older, most committed a criminal act before they used marijuana. The fact that drug use sometimes occurs first and at other times criminal behavior precedes drug use indicates that if there is a causal connection between drug use and criminal behavior, it is not a simple one. 13 tables