Criminal Career and Socio-Economic Status of Drug Offenders

• NCJ Number: 195098
• Author(s): Aarne Kinnunen
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 69 pages
• Sale Source: National Research Institute of Legal Policy
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Finland
• Note: From Publications of the National Research Institute of Legal Policy, #185.

Annotation

This Finnish longitudinal study examined the criminal careers and socioeconomic status of persons convicted of drug offenses.

Abstract

The study used court statistics on persons convicted of drug offenses or other offenses as well as demographic data. The age group followed for the longest period was born in 1962. The court statistics covered the years 1977 through 1996, thus providing a 19-year span of observations. The sample consisted of all those persons (n=16,952) who had been convicted of drug offenses during these years. The 1962 birth cohort (n=631) was subjected to separate analysis; in 1977, those who were born in 1962 reached the age of criminal responsibility (15 years old). By the end of 1996, 21 percent of those in the age cohort (35 percent of the men and 7 percent of the women) had been convicted of an offense. At the time, those in the age group were 34 years old. Most convictions had been for theft offenses, followed in order of prevalence by drunken driving, assault offenses, and traffic offenses. By the end of 1996, somewhat less than 1 percent of the 1962 birth cohort had been convicted of a drug offense. Drug offenders had been convicted of a large number of other offenses, notably theft offenses, the hiding of stolen property, and the unauthorized use of motor vehicles. The criminal careers of drug offenders tended to begin at a young age, with the majority having been convicted for the first time when they were 15 or 16 years old. Only about one-fifth of the drug offenders were economically active in 1995; 43 percent reported being unemployed, and 28 percent were classified as otherwise economically inactive. The most common occupations among drug offenders were manual laborers in various fields, machinists and machine repairers, drivers, and various occupations related to construction. Drug offenders tended to have low educational levels, even lower than those of persons convicted of other offenses. Drug policy in Finland continues to be based excessively on moral arguments and repression. A change in this attitude is required before there can be cooperation between law-enforcement, treatment, and prevention agencies. 15 tables and a 78-item bibliography