NCJ Number
54200
Date Published
1979
Length
23 pages
Annotation
THIS REVIEW OF DRUGS AND CRIME LITERATURE, PARTICULARLY 'DRUG USE AND CRIME' (1976), INVESTIGATES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSUMPTION AND CRIME PATTERNS AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DRUG LAWS AND TREATMENT METHODS.
Abstract
DRUGS AND CRIME RESEARCH PRESENTS SUBSTANTIAL CONCEPTUAL AND MEASUREMENT QUESTIONS SINCE THE NOTION OF DRUG-RELATED CRIME IS NOT A UNITARY CONSTRUCT REQUIRING PRECISE MEANINGS AND ANALYTIC METHODS. STUDIES OF ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN MARIHUANA USE AND CRIME, SUCH AS THAT OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON MARIHUANA AND DRUG ABUSE (1972), FOUND A DIRECT CORRELATION BETWEEN USERS AND CRIME, BUT A 1976 LONGITUDINAL STUDY INDICATED THAT DELINQUENCY PATTERNS OF JUVENILE MARIHUANA USERS PARALLELED THOSE OF ABSTAINERS OVER TIME. OPINIONS DIFFER MARKEDLY WITH RESPECT TO OPIATE USERS, BUT FEW RESEARCHERS DOUBT THE CRIME ASSOCIATION AT LEAST WITH CHRONIC OPIATE USE. ARRESTEE STUDIES SHOW WIDESPREAD VARIATIONS IN INTERVIEWING AND URINE TEST RESULTS THAT FLUCTUATE OVER TIME, BUT A STUDY OF DRUG USE AMONG INMATES FOUND THAT 61 PERCENT OF INCARCERATED OFFENDERS SELF-REPORT SOME ILLEGAL DRUG ACTIVITY AND 13 PERCENT CLAIM TO HAVE USED HEROIN PRIOR TO THE TIME OF ARREST. FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF ADDICTS, DELINQUENCY PRECEDES THE ONSET OF DRUG USE, BUT PERIODS OF ABSTINENCE FROM DRUGS SEEM TO CONCUR WITH DECREASES IN CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IN PERSONS WITH PREEXISTING CRIMINAL TENDENCIES. TREATMENT DOES TEND TO DECREASE THE PRESSURE FOR COMMITTING CRIME, BUT IN AN OBLIQUE MANNER, AND DRUG LAWS ARE RELATIVELY IMPOTENT IN ACHIEVING THE GOAL OF DETERRING COMMUNITY DRUG USE. IMPLICATIONS ARE DISCUSSED, AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (DAG)