Drug-Related Crime

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Drug-Related Crime

• Trevor Bennett
• University of Glamorgan

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Definition

• What is drug-related crime?

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Definition

• The term was first introduced in a government
  policy document in 1994 and was defined as...
• not only the offence of supply and possession
  of illegal drugs but also other criminal activity
  directly or indirectly associated with drug
  misuse
• Home Office (1994) Tackling Drugs Together A
  Consultation Document on a Strategy for England
  1995-98. London HMSO

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Definition

• The definition was elaborated in a follow-up
  document published in 1995
• Home Office (1995) Tackling Drugs Together A
  Strategy for England 1995-1998. London HMSO.
• In this it was stated that drug-related crime
  included all offences committed under the Misuse
  of Drugs Act 1971 and offences committed by
  persons acting as a consequence of drug misuse.
• These included crimes directly connected to drug
  use such as burglary and theft and crimes
  indirectly connected such as laundering of
  profits of drug sales and systemic crimes
  associated with drug trafficking.

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Definition

• These definitions identify 3 types of drug crime.
  
• Drug offences which refer to crimes covered by
  drug legislation (e.g. drug supply and
  possession)
• Offences committed by persons acting as a
  consequence of drug misuse (e.g. burglary and
  theft)
• Systemic crimes which refer to offences
  indirectly caused by drug use (e.g. money
  laundering and drug trafficking)

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Definition

• These 3 types can also be found in the definition
  proposed by the European Monitoring Centre for
  Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in 2003

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Definition

• The official definitions are fairly clear
• But the term drug-related crime is sometimes
  used in different ways

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Definition

• The Home Office 2007 consultation paper reported
  that drug-related crime was decreasing and used
  as evidence the number of acquisitive crimes
• Home Office (2007) Drugs Our Community, Your
  Say A Consultation Paper. London Home Office.
• Drug-related crime is falling recorded
  acquisitive crime has fallen by 20 per cent since
  the introduction of the Drug Interventions
  Programme
• This equates drug-related crime with the second
  category of offences committed as a consequence
  of drug use

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Definition

• It might help if some agreed terms were developed
  that covered the three types of offences
  individually and as a group

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Definition

• A second problem is whether the second type of
  drug-related crime refers to a causal
  connection
• The early Tackling Drug Misuse documents
  suggested a causal connection in the phrases...
• offences committed by persons acting as a
  consequence of drug misuse
• These included crimes directly connected to drug
  use such as burglary and theft

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Definition

• This was also suggested in the 2003 definition
  proposed by the European Monitoring Centre for
  Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

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Definition

• It seems clear from these definitions that the
  second type of drug-related crime requires a
  causal connection between drug use and crime
• This would prove quite challenging when it comes
  to measuring drug-related crime
• Not all acquisitive crime will be connected to
  drug use
• Not all crimes committed by drug users will be
  connected to their drug use
• In order to measure drug-related crime it would
  be necessary to know the motivation for it

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Research on drug-related crime

• It might be useful to consider the research
  implications connected to this discussion
• One implication is that more needs to be known
  about the causal connection between drug use and
  crime

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Research on drug-related crime

• This is the conclusion that has been reached
  among policy makers in the United States
• In 2001 the US National Institute of Justice
  established a forum for researchers to propose a
  drugs and crime research agenda for the 21st
  century
• BROWNSTEIN, H. and CROSLAND, C. (2003), Toward a
  Drugs and Crime Research Agenda for the 21st
  Century. National Institute of Justice, U.S.
  Department of Justice. Washington, DC.
• One of the aims of the forum was to discuss the
  usefulness of Goldsteins tripartite conceptual
  framework for explaining drug-related crime

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Research on drug-related crime

• Goldsteins conceptual framework divided
  explanations of the connection into three
  groups...
• Economic-compulsive crime was committed as a
  means of generating money to support drug use.
• Psychopharmacological crime occurred when the
  use of drugs resulted in change or impairment in
  cognitive functioning.
• Systemic crime was associated with crime that
  occurred as part of the system of drug
  distribution and use.
• Goldstein, P. (1985), The Drugs/Violence Nexus
  A Tripartite Conceptual Framework, Journal of
  Drug Issues, 15 493-506.

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Research on drug-related crime

• There have been some criticisms of this framework
• One is that the tripartite categories are not
  mutually exclusive (e.g. systemic crimes might
  also be economically motivated)
• Another is that the systemic model is not
  applicable to the majority of young drug users
  who are not involved in the high-level drug
  distribution system (i.e. systemic crimes).

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Research on drug-related crime

• One of the conclusions of the NIJ forum was that
  Goldsteins framework needed to be updated.
• In particular more needed to be known about...
• the causal connection between drug use and crime
• how it varied across drug types and offence types
• how it varied across demographic factors

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Research on drug-related crime

• A couple of years ago Katy Holloway and I began
  some unfunded interview-based research on the
  causal connection between drug use and crime.
• The aim of the research was to describe and
  explain the various mechanisms that linked drug
  use and crime.
• This results of this have just been published.
• Bennett, T. H. and Holloway, K. (2009) The
  causal connection between drug use and crime.
  British Journal of Criminology. doi
  10.1093/bjc/azp014. (Advanced access April 2009).

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Research on drug-related crime

• The research was conducted in three prisons (2 in
  Wales and 1 in England)
• In two prisons, respondents were selected from
  within the CARAT scheme.
• In the third prison, respondents were selected
  from a particular wing.
• In total, we interviewed 41 prisoners.
• The respondents were all males with an age range
  of 22 to 56.
• Their main offences were drug offences, assault
  and robbery
• The main method of data collection was a
  semi-structured interview.
• Offenders were asked to describe some of their
  connections in detail.
• In total, 133 detailed narratives of specific
  drug-crime connections were identified and
  analysed.

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Research on drug-related crime

• The first thing we did was to ask offenders
  whether any of ten drug types and ten crime types
  have ever been connected.
• The most common connections reported were heroin
  and drug dealing, burglary dwelling and handling

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Research on drug-related crime

• We then asked them to describe (up to three)
  specific occasions when their drug use and crime
  were connected
• In total we transcribed 133 narratives of
  specific drug-crime connections
• These were grouped initially into Goldsteins
  three categories
• These were then adjusted or expanded until all
  narratives would be categorised

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Research on drug-related crime

• The main change to Goldsteins framework was to
  replace the systemic crime category with a
  lifestyles category
• This was because it was not only drug lifestyle
  factors that influenced the connection
• It was also influenced by crime lifestyle factors
  as well as cultural factors

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Results
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Research on drug-related crime

• Economic mechanisms
• Obtaining drugs directly
• I decided if I was going to still take heroin
  Id either always have it or I wouldnt take it
  no more. So I decided to start dealing it. (085)
• Saving legal money for drugs
• Most of my shoplifting is around, I would say,
  clothes. I could be out shopping and Ill take
  something. I might spend two, three hundred pound
  and steal a hundred pound. ... the money I save
  not buying, that goes back into my drugs. (018)

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Research on drug-related crime

• Economic mechanisms
• Most frequently mentioned
• Drug dealing (85)
• Shoplifting (74)
• Robbery (71)
• Least frequently mentioned
• Handling (33)
• Assault (0)

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Research on drug-related crime

• Pharmacological mechanisms
• Aggression
• ...with ecstasy Im just violent if someone
  winds me up. Its a very different head on.
  Different drug. Ecstasy is a bad choice for
  violence. (026)
• Courage to offend
• Pretty much when I used to take loads of valium,
  it used to make me feel invincible and I would
  just go and starts robbing just for the fact that
  I thought I could and Id get away with it ... I
  thought I was invisible and no one would see me.
  (004)

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Research on drug-related crime

• Pharmacological mechanisms
• Most frequently mentioned
• Assault (91)
• Burglary dwelling (46)
• Least frequently mentioned
• Drug dealing (12)
• Handling (0)

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Research on drug-related crime

• Lifestyle mechanisms
• Criminal contacts
• you get to know the people, coz its all
  related around that sort of thing init know what
  I mean, drugs and crime and all that (035)
• Offended for treatment
• I was drinking and doing drugs, I had become
  homeless, I had lost everything. And I couldnt
  see no way out. ... I had heard through you know
  other people, that if you go through prison they
  have to give you a place when you get out. So, I
  done it on purpose really. (028)

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Research on drug-related crime

• Lifestyle mechanisms
• Most frequently mentioned
• Handling (67)
• Least frequently mentioned
• Burglary (0)
• Robbery (0)
• Shoplifting (0)

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Conclusion

• Goldsteins categories stood up fairly well
  across a range of offence and drug types
• But...
• The systemic category was too narrow
• The lack of causal direction was limiting
• The absence of more detailed category breakdowns
• The absence of crime breakdowns
• The absence of demographic breakdowns

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Conclusion

• In order to understand drug-related crime there
  is a need for more research on...
• the nature of the causal relationship
• the mechanisms linking drug use and crime
• It is likely that ...
• there are many more causal mechanisms linking
  drug use and crime
• there is variation in the mechanisms across
  location and time
• there is variation by drug and crime types
• there is variation by demographic factors.

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Conclusion

• End!