Drugs-Crime Relationship: An Analytical Framework (From Drug Use and Drug Policy, P 223-244, 1997, Marilyn McShane, Frank P. Williams, III, eds. - See NCJ-168395)

• NCJ Number: 168408
• Author(s): D C McBride; C B McCoy
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Garland Publishing, Inc.
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This article examines the historical underpinnings of current perceptions of the drugs-crime relationship and suggests an organizational paradigm for interpreting current drugs-crime literature.

Abstract

An overview of the literature and issues suggests that there is strong empirical evidence of the statistical overlap between drug use and criminal behavior. Further, drug use is seen as increasing and sustaining criminal behavior. However, a wide body of research suggests that drug use and crime have a complex recursive nature to their relationship, and that drug use, despite a long history of public perceptions, cannot be viewed as a direct and simple cause of crime. A review of subcultural, role, and ecological theory suggests that drug use and crime may emerge from the same etiological variables and become an integral part of a street-drug-using lifestyle and subculture. Radical theory argues that the drugs/crime relationship is created by social policy that makes drugs illegal. The article argues that this perspective fails to recognize the complexity of the drugs/crime relationship. Research suggests the need for increasing treatment availability and increasing economic opportunities within the framework of a careful review of drug policy and enforcement. References