Recreational and lifestyle aspects of drug-related criminality

1. Recreational and lifestyle aspects of drug-related criminality Tuula Kekki University of Helsinki

2. Criminal life style& identity Potential source of income, way to spend time, maintain social relations, reach tension, solve practical problems and gain success in peer group Willing to spare time and energy to learn Unable to rationalize criminal activity Reasonable stable Criminal sentiments maintain offending behaviour

3. Criminal life style & identity • Criminal thinking and identity is consisted of criminally oriented attitudes, values, beliefs and rationalization. • Besides the economical necessity committing the offences was influenced by certain counterculture motions and digestion of subcultures values.

4. Characteristics of criminality Diversity and heterogenious No specialization Long duration Sosialnature Earlyonset

5. Motives • Data: all criminal incidences where a person was a suspect of a drug offence and additionally of another offence in Helsinki in 2002 • The most common motive was to obtain goods of low-value for own personal use • Second most often the amount or value of stolen property was so high, that it had market value and therefore implied funding purposes • Crimes committed under the influence of drugs or disputes over drug markets or such were rare.

6. Motives • Data: Interviews of former drug users (22) • At the beginning seeking excitement and approval by peers - offending as a way to attain material profit and immaterial benefits • In time using drugs started to dominate criminal acting - offending as desperate acts forced by isolation and a fear of withdrawal symptoms.

7. Careerdevelopment • Criminal behaviour was common before they started to use drugs. • Some were suspects of serious crimes already as minors • Drug users´ criminal activity extended for a longer time than other criminals. • The density, amount, diversity and duration of committed crimes refer to the criminal lifestyle.

8. Mix of rules and values • Forbidden: Gossipping Violence without a proper cause • Morethandesirable: Respecting friend´s family and property Responsibility in dealingdrugs Professional skills and consideration in choosing targets Taking care of own business in the end

9. Techniques of neutralization (Sykes & Matza 1957) • The denial of responsibility • Ownfault, criminalpeergroup, mental and personal disorders • Gravitating vs. drifting • The denial of victim and injury • The existence of injury and victim are obvious • Violence is justified in certain situation • Affluent companies, not old ladies

10. Techniques of neutralization (Sykes & Matza 1957) • The condemnation of the condemners • The distinction between "we deviant" and "those decent“ • No attraction towards convent life style • Strong identification into the deviant peer group • The appeal to higher loyalties - Defending honour is the most essential principle, which justified the rejection of other principles. But it was legitimate to trample other people’s rights in order to gain himself benefit and well-being.

11. New technique of neutralization • Actually, the outsourcing of himself behind the criminal identity was acting as another way of neutralization. They didn’t regret as such their behavior during the street life, and they explained that by claiming that they were different people and acting under the different norm and moral system.

12. Addiction and life style as a explanation for criminalacting