NCJ Number
238760
Date Published
May 2012
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study by the Australian Institute of Criminology examined how much crime was attributed to drugs or alcohol by police detainees.
Abstract
Key findings from the study include the following: 52 percent of police detainees indicated that substance use was a factor in their most recent offending, with the drug-crime attribution rate being 32 percent and the alcohol-crime attribution rate being 41 percent; and 45 percent of detainees indicated that their current offenses were attributed to either alcohol or illegal drug use, or both; attribution rates by drug type show that heroin users had the highest rate (54 percent), followed by amphetamine users (33 percent), benzodiazepine users (27 percent) and cannabis and cocaine users (14 percent each). The study also examined the reasons that the offenses were committed and found that 45 percent of heroin-attributing detainees committed their offense because they needed money to buy heroin, while 22 percent committed the offense because they were high. This finding contrasts that for amphetamine users of which 22 reported committing their offense for economic reasons while 47 percent reported committing the offense because they were high at that time. This study by the Australian Institute of Criminology examined how much crime was attributed to drugs or alcohol use by police detainees. Data for the study were obtained from interviews with 1,884 police detainees in the third and fourth quarters of 2009. The survey was conducted in response to limitations found in the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program which collects self-report and urinalysis data from police detainees. Study limitations are discussed. Tables and references