NCJ Number
158964
Journal
Social Problems Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1987) Pages: 54-68
Date Published
1987
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Two key hypotheses about the causal relationship between heroin addiction and criminality govern current conceptions of addict criminality, approaches to treatment, and law enforcement strategies: (1) heroin addiction promotes criminal activity by placing a heavy financial burden on the addict which cannot normally be met through legal means; and (2) connections in the criminal subculture which distribute heroin facilitate and encourage criminal solutions to the problem of financing heroin addiction.
Abstract
To test these hypotheses, life history interviews were conducted with 32 heroin addicts in the Wilmington, Delaware, area. All respondents had extensive contacts with the criminal justice system, and 24 of the 32 respondents were incarcerated or under some form of correctional authority supervision at the time of interview. Respondents were interviewed regarding childhood and early adolescent experiences which may have served as predisposing factors for eventual drug and criminal involvement, initial encounters with drugs and criminality, the evolution of drug and criminal careers, patterns of activity during peak periods of drug use and criminality, preferences for drugs and crime types, and perceptions of the nature and effectiveness of drug treatment. Interview data revealed the two hypotheses were true only for certain periods in the careers of drug addicts. The findings suggest some specific refinements to and alterations in drug treatment and drug law enforcement strategies and complicate current theoretical speculations and empirical findings on the drug-crime connection. 47 references and 1 figure