Drugs and Crime

1. Drugs and Crime Lecture 9

2. What to Expect in this Lecture • Introduction: Clarification of terms • Sources of data on the relationship between drug use and crime • The relationship between drug use and crime: The arguments • Drugs Cause Crime • Crime Causes Drug Use • Common Cause Explanations • The relationship between drug use and crime: The evidence

3. Introduction: Clarification of Terms • What is crime? • Distinction between correlation and causation • While criminal activity may be associated with drug use (correlation), this does not necessarily mean that one caused the other • Requirements to establish causation: • Elimination of a possible 3rd variable; and • Temporal priority; or • “Unmoved mover;”

4. Sources of Data on the Relationship between Drug Use and Crime • Official Sources • Prison data • ADAM • Unofficial Sources – Self Reports • Sequence Studies • Longitudinal Studies • Ethnographic Studies

5. The Relationship Between Drug Use and Crime: The Arguments • Drugs Cause Crime • Crime Causes Drug Use • Common Cause Explanations

6. Drug Use Causes Crime: The Arguments Paul Goldstein • What is Goldstein’s “tripartite conceptual framework?” • How is “systemic violence” different from the other two models? • Which model seems most appropriate to you?

7. “Drug Use Causes Crime:”Pharmacological Explanations • Crime is caused by the chemical effect that drugs have on the human body • Biological studies focus on neurological, hormonal and genetic factors • Psychological studies focus on psychological impairment • Abe Wikler a pioneer in researching psycho-pharmacological explanations, and responsible for disinhibition hypothesis • Evaluation of pharmacological explanations • Most apply to a limited range of drugs • Most apply only to crimes of violence • Causal mechanisms remain elusive • Most widely criticized has been the disinhibition hypothesis AbeWikler

8. “Drug Use Causes Crime:”Economic Explanations • Suggest that crime is the result of needing money to purchase drugs • Two assumptions: • Drugs are expensive • Drugs are addictive • Theory states that: • With increased use comes addiction • With addiction comes increased tolerance and an “inelastic demand” • With increased tolerance comes greater expense • Greater expense requires criminal means for support • Evaluation of economic explanations • Based on questionable assumption that demand for drugs, even when addicted, is inelastic • Empirical evidence is based primarily on data from arrestees or other populations “in trouble” • Empirical evidence establishes correlation but not necessarily causation

9. “Crime Causes Drug Use” • More precisely, explanation suggests that crime facilitates drug use • Based on repeated observations that crime typically precedes drug use • Suggests that crime is an economically productive behavior while drug use is a consumer behavior • Drug use patterns tend to reflect other consumer patterns—that consumption is predicated on resources • Crime produces resources for consumption of drugs; therefore, crime (or other income-producing behavior) is a prerequisite for drug use • Also, drugs are sometimes used to facilitate pre-existing crime patterns

10. “Common Cause” Explanations • Suggest that there may not be a direct causal relationship between drugs and crime at all • Rather, both drug use and criminal behavior can be attributed to a third variable or set of variables that cause both. • This is called a spuriousrelationship

11. Drug Use Crime Common Causes Subcultures Problem Behavior Syndrome

12. The Empirical Evidence:Official Sources • Prison statistics • 80% of inmates have used at least once • 70% have used regularly • 50% have used in month prior to incarceration • ADAM • 80% of those arrested for drug offenses tested positive • 70% of those arrested for property offenses tested positive • 50%+ of those arrested for violent offenses tested positive • Question: What do these data say about the relationship between drug use and crime?

13. These studies look at the sequence of initiation into drug use and crime Studies conducted prior to the 1950’s suggested that drug use preceded crime This would suggest that drug use may be a causal factor in crime Post-1950 studies, however, find that crime precedes drug use! The Empirical Evidence:Sequence Studies

14. Sequence of Initiation into Drug Use and Crime—James Inciardi

15. Evaluation of Sequence Studies • These studies clearly challenge the notion that drugs cause crime • Nevertheless, questions remain: • Is there a different causal mechanism for initiation into drugs and crime than there is for the relationship between drugs and crime later on? • Does this reverse sequence make a sufficient case for the position that “crime causes drug use?”

16. The Empirical Evidence:Longitudinal Studies • Typically identify various periods in addicts lives and inquire about drug use and criminal behavior in each • Nurco et al. study • Identify days “at risk” • Calculate number of days “addicted” • Calculate number of “criminal” days • Find that users were 6 times more likely to commit a crime on “addicted” days than on “non-addicted” days • Johnson et al. study • Asked addicts to recount drug use and crime for previous day or previous week only • Found that daily users were committing 3x the number of crimes of irregular users

17. Evaluation of Longitudinal Studies • These studies go beyond the “sequence” of initiation into drug use and crime • However, the causal question remains: • Are they committing more crimes because they are using more drugs? Or • Are they using more drugs because they are committing more crimes?

18. The Empirical Evidence:Ethnographic Studies • These are “qualitative” studies which seek to explore the meanings that addicts attribute to their behavior • These studies report that addicts are not driven to crime as the “drugs-cause-crime” thesis would suggest • Rather, they find crime intrinsically challenging and rewarding. • Faupel’s research suggests that the relationship between drug use and crime is variable

19. Drugs and Crime Over a Career