NCJ Number
154315
Date Published
1989
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study compares the crime patterns of narcotics drug users and nonnarcotic drug users and draws implications for crime-control policy.
Abstract
Of the more than 3,000 people interviewed, one cohort included 573 Miami narcotics users contacted during 1978 through 1981. Although a few of them were recent admissions to local drug treatment programs or the county jail, 83 percent were active in the street community at the time of the interview. All were current users of narcotics; that is, they had used heroin or illegal methadone on one or more occasions during the 90 days before the interview. Another sample of 429 subjects whose current drug use did include narcotics were interviewed as well. Their drug use consisted primarily of alcohol, sedatives, marijuana, and/or cocaine. In many ways this sample was similar to the narcotics users in terms of their patterns of onset and progression into drug use and crime. Data on crime patterns relied on self-reports. Generally, the members of the narcotics- using group were more criminally involved than the nonnarcotics- using group. They committed more crimes, engaged in a greater diversity of offenses, and perpetrated significantly more robberies and burglaries. The study concludes that although the members of both cohorts were apparently already substance abusers by the time they began regular criminal activity, drug use cannot be said to cause street crime. The data also argue against the theory that a small number of habitual career criminals are responsible for a relatively great proportion of crime. Finally, the study concludes that drug-related crime is out of control, such that its containment is well beyond the capabilities of contemporary policing. 5 tables and 3 notes