NCJ Number
147400
Journal
International Journal of the Addictions Volume: 28 Issue: 9 Dated: (1993) Pages: 813-826
Date Published
1993
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Data from interviews with 231 heroin addicts in methadone treatment in the New York City area in 1981-82 were used to examine the relationship between sense of identity and involvement in crime for the heroin addict.
Abstract
The study hypothesis was that crime during treatment is related to the maintenance of an identity appropriate to the role of the active street hustler. Each participant was interviewed twice, once by another addict using an instrument covering a broad range of topics and once by professional staff who gathered information in more detail and used many open-ended questions. The participants were predominantly male (62 percent) and included 46 percent whites, 40 percent blacks, and 14 percent Hispanics. The main finding was that addicts in methadone treatment who had street-oriented identities were more likely than those with model patient-identities to be involved in crime, particularly property crime. Tables, notes, author photograph and biography, and 33 references (Author abstract modified)