ALCOHOL, DRUGS, AND CRIME (police)

 

Overview

The association between drug use and crime is complex. Little research support can be found for a single, specific, or direct cause-and-effect relationship between drug use and criminal activity, which is neither an inevitable consequence of illicit drug use (apart from the illegal nature of drug use itself), nor a necessary or sufficient condition for criminal behavior. Many illegal drug users commit no other kinds of crimes, and many persons who commit crimes never use illegal drugs. Furthermore, it is possible for people to commit crimes while using illegal drugs without a causal connection between the two activities. Most crimes result from a variety of factors (personal, situational, cultural, and economic); hence, even when drug use is a cause, it is more likely to be only one factor among many. In short, no evidence suggests drug use alone inexorably leads to criminal activity. The same conclusion applies to the link between alcohol use and crime, which is also influenced by multiple factors.

However, at the most intense levels of drug use, drugs and crime are directly and highly correlated. Among crime-prone individuals, illegal drug use intensifies criminal activity. As illegal drug use increases in frequency and amount, so does criminal behavior. Persons who are criminally inclined tend to commit both a greater number and more serious crimes after they become dependent on drugs. As their drug use decreases, so do the number of crimes they commit. In addition, illicit drug use and criminal activity often occur simultaneously and are mutually reinforcing aspects of a deviant lifestyle.

The propensity for crime-prone, drug-using persons to commit property or violent crimes might be expressed only after they cross the threshold from use to abuse or dependence.

Yet an unknown number of illegal drug users, perhaps even dependent users, are able to maintain steady employment and never commit crimes, other than the crime of illicit drug use itself. Because drug use is an illegal and socially undesirable behavior, accurate, self-reported estimates of the size and nature of this ”hidden” population are difficult to garner from national prevalence surveys.

Types of Drug Crimes

Illegal drugs are involved in different types of crimes: drug-defined, drug-related, and drug-induced crimes. Drug-defined offenses are violations of laws that prohibit the manufacture, distribution, or possession of illegal substances such as amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, or marijuana. Drug-related offenses are motivated by an individual’s need for money to purchase drugs (e.g., property crimes and prostitution) or are occasioned by conflicts that surround the illicit drug trade (e.g., violence among competing drug dealers). The pharmacological effects of illicit substances (and alcohol) can encourage reckless or violent behaviors or result in drug- or alcohol-induced offenses, such as driving under the influence and domestic battery.

Substance Use and Crime

The annual National Youth Survey has found that juveniles who commit serious crimes are significantly more likely to use drugs than juveniles who commit minor crimes or no crimes at all. Other long-term studies of youth have also found that those delinquents who commit more serious offenses are heavier drug users than those with less serious offenses. Consistent with research on the relationship between drugs and crime among youths, a survey of adult drug users indicated they had engaged in numerous criminal activities (excluding drug-law violations) in the 90 days before they were interviewed for the study. A national survey of prison inmates also indicated that more than half were under the influence of drugs when they committed their current offenses.

Substance use, abuse, and dependence are more common in the criminal justice population than in the general population. For example, in 2000, the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program demonstrated that nearly two-thirds of male and female arrestees tested positive for illicit drugs at the time of arrest. Similarly, a study of jail detainees demonstrated that two-thirds had been abusing or were dependent on drugs or alcohol before they were detained. Among jail detainees convicted of a crime, 55% reported they had used illegal drugs at the time of their current offense. More than half of state and federal prisoners in the late 1990s indicated they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs while committing their offenses. Among state prison inmates nationwide in 2000, 25% of property and drug offenders reported they committed their crimes to get money to buy drugs; 59% of all inmates reported they had used drugs in the month before they committed their most recent crimes; and 45% of all inmates reported they were under the influence of drugs when they committed their most recent crimes.

Serious drug use can also amplify and perpetuate preexisting criminal activity. Although substance use itself is not necessarily the cause of criminal behavior, as noted earlier, the need for money to purchase drugs can be a motivating factor for criminally active drug users. Two types of studies support an income-generating explanation for the drug-crime nexus: studies of the relationship between illegal income and drug purchases, and studies of the relationship between drug use intensity and criminal activity.

Offenders’ income from property crime increases proportionately with their drug use. In a jail survey, nearly 20% of detainees reported they had committed their most recent offenses for money to buy drugs. In another study, heroin users reported that 90 cents of every illegal dollar they earned was spent on drug purchases. Researchers have found a direct relationship between illegal income and drug spending among cocaine users. The need to have an income to purchase illegal drugs often leads to prostitution among drug-addicted women. Researchers estimate that between 40 and 70% of female narcotic addicts maintain their drug habits through the sex trade. The exchange of sex for drugs seems to be especially common among women who use crack cocaine.

Persons addicted to heroin often increase their criminal activities dramatically during periods of accelerated drug use, with the onset of their addictions coinciding with a sharp rise in their criminal activities. Conversely, a study of heroin-dependent persons found their criminal activities decreased by more than 80% during the months and years in which they refrained from heroin or other opiate use. A very large percentage of jail inmates (85%) convicted of burglary were assessed as abusing or dependent on drugs, suggesting a strong link between drug use severity and income-generating crime.

Other research has shown that criminal activity is substantially greater among frequent drug and polydrug users (i.e., users of two or more substances at the same time) than among sporadic or nonusers of drugs. Thus, drug-using offenders, especially those with substance abuse and dependence problems, commit both more and a greater variety of income-generating crimes and also commit crimes at higher rates than offenders without drug-use problems.

Drug Trafficking and Violent Crime

Drug users frequently participate in the production, distribution, and sales of illicit drugs in order to earn money for their own drug use. In a study of drug sellers in Washington, D.C., researchers estimated that in one year, street drug sales generated approximately $350 million, more than twice the estimated earnings from robbery and property crimes such as burglary and shoplifting. Heavy drug users commit relatively fewer violent offenses, including violent predatory crimes, compared with income-generating property crimes; however, studies show cocaine use is associated with a higher-than-average likelihood of violent crimes among both men and women offenders. Violent cocaine users often commit robbery, a high-risk but expedient means of obtaining ready cash. In 2004, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that of the homicides in which the circumstances were known, 4% were drug related. A survey of the nation’s victims of violent crime demonstrated that nearly 30% believed the offender was using drugs or alcohol (or a combination of the two) at the time of their victimization.

Drug trafficking and violence are associated in several ways. The violence that accompanies illicit drug use can be related to the drug trade; it occurs because of the conflicts that stem from the importation, distribution, or sale of illicit substances. Competition for drug markets and customers can encourage violence among drug sellers. Public drug selling in particular is associated with high rates of violent crime. In addition, disputes and ”rip offs” in drug-cash transactions can erupt among individuals involved in the illegal drug market. Individuals who participate in drug trafficking frequently use violence to resolve conflicts. Locations where street drug markets proliferate tend to be disadvantaged economically and socially, and legal and social controls against violence in those areas tend to be ineffective.

The systemic violence of the drug trade was first recognized as a serious problem in 1985 when crack cocaine sales became widespread in major metropolitan areas such as New York City and Washington, D.C. Well-armed and violent drug dealers led the struggle to protect or gain control over initially unstable, highly lucrative drug markets. At that time, the proliferation of automatic weapons had also made drug violence more lethal. When the drug markets stabilized, homicide rates fell in most major cities.

Contrary to common beliefs about the direction of the relationship between drugs and crime, researchers have suggested that overall criminal involvement causes drug use by providing situations that are conducive to drug use and sales. In this perspective, criminals start using drugs before committing offenses to lower their anxiety, or after committing offenses to celebrate their success. Delinquent and criminal behaviors can predate drug use among juveniles. For example, the National Youth Survey showed that minor delinquency led to alcohol consumption and more serious offenses, which led to marijuana and polydrug use (in that order). Minor delinquency preceded drug use in nearly all the cases studied. In general, the theory that crime precedes drug use suggests drug use is simply another form of deviant behavior, with involvement in crime affording many opportunities for drug-use initiation.

The relationship between drug use and crime can be bidirectional, that is, reciprocal and mutually reinforcing. Specifically, as persons commit more income-generating crimes, they find it easier to buy drugs. Then, as they begin to use drugs more frequently, they are compelled to commit more crimes in support of their escalating addiction. In this theory, drug use and offending are interrelated, with the correlation between drug use and criminality being at the intersection between the two lifestyles.

However, for many youth, drug use and delinquency are not causally related in either direction; instead, they are contemporaneous, as both behaviors arise from common causes such as social disaffection, poor relationships with parents, school failure, and deviant peers. Among adult offenders, the connection between drug use and crime can be explained by the criminal subculture theory. In this framework, members of criminal subcultures are described as self-indulgent, hedonistic, materialistic, and risk seeking, as they are committed to living the ”fast life.” For these individuals, drug use and crime operate along parallel lines, because they are components of a larger constellation of destructive behaviors that also include high-risk sexual practices.

Alcohol Use and Crime

Because alcohol use is legal and pervasive, it contributes greatly to crime and other social problems. Other than driving offenses, alcohol use is associated mostly with violent and public order offenses. Similar to illicit drug use, alcohol use facilitates or multiplies criminal behaviors among persons who are predisposed to commit offenses.

In a survey conducted in the late 1990s, nearly three million crime victims reported that they perceived the offender in their case had been drinking at the time of the incident. A large percentage (two-thirds) of the victims of intimate violence perceived their partners’ alcohol use as precipitating the episode. Nearly 70% of alcohol-related violent incidents occurred in the victim’s own residence, while the use of firearms was involved in 4% of alcohol-related violent incidents.

Alcohol abuse occurs disproportionately among juveniles and adults who report violent behaviors. A study of convicted offenders estimated that more than one-third had been drinking at the time of their offense. Among persons in jails and on probation, public order offenses, such as disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and trespassing, were the most common crimes reported by those who had been drinking at the time of the offense. Approximately one-third of prison inmates and 40% of probationers and jail detainees report they had been drinking alcohol at the time of the offense, with nearly 60% of convicted jail inmates reporting they had been drinking regularly in the year before their conviction and incarceration. Adults who are lifetime alcohol users are also nearly five times more likely to use illicit substances, compared with lifetime nondrinkers.

Finally, alcohol use is responsible for thousands of traffic fatalities each year. More than one million people are arrested annually for driving while intoxicated (DWI), which is the third most commonly reported crime in the United States. In the late 1990s, more than five hundred thousand individuals were on probation or in jail and prison for a DWI conviction.

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