Participation in Crime Partnerships by Female Drug Users: The Effects of Domestic Arrangements, Drug Use, and Criminal Involvement

• NCJ Number: 108528
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 25 Issue: 3 Dated: (August 1987) Pages: 741-766
• Author(s): L E Pettiway
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 26 pages
• Grant Number(s): 5-R01-DA-0-1827
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This study used measures of the domestic network, crime commitment, drug use, ethnicity, and participation in vice and predatory crime to examine the formation of and participation in crime partnerships of 409 active drug-using women who reported committing a crime in the 6 months prior to interview.

Abstract

Findings reveal that ethnicity, living with boyfriends or husbands, high levels of crime commission (particularly armed crimes), and participating in predatory and vice crimes are factors shared by a number of crime partnerships. Having children raised by others, a history of incarceration and arrest, and opiate use were related to specific crime partnerships and the likelihood that such partnerships will develop. A number of relationships were found among and between these variables by crime type (i.e., more 'feminine' versus more 'masculine' crimes) and by crime group type (same-sex, mixed sex, husband/boyfriend). Results are discussed in terms of the influence of drug use, peer influences, and gender roles on criminality. 5 tables and 44 references. (Author abstract modified)