Trends in the Commission of Crime Among Narcotic Addicts Over Successive Periods of Addiction and Nonaddiction

Subjects were from a stratified random sample of 4,069 known narcotic users arrested or identified by police between 1952 and 1971. The sample was unselected for criminality but stratified by race and year of police contact. To be included in the study, subjects must have used narcotics on at least 4 days a week for at least 1 month while in the community. Subjects described their narcotic addiction, abstinence, and incarceration periods, with criteria for successive addiction periods being the same as that for inclusion in the study. Subjects' criminal activities were categorized and traced over time using five, standardized, crime-days-per-year-at-risk measures in the areas of theft, violence, drug dealing, con games, and other crimes. A sixth composite measure was also used. Subjects greatly differed in the level, type, and trend of criminal activity, but these differences tended to cancel when the data were averaged for the group as a whole. Criminal activity diminished over successive nonaddiction periods and increased irregularly over successive addiction periods. Future research directions are suggested. 2 tables and 11 references.