Self-report criminal activity in a sample of 86 methadone-maintained opioid addicts is examined. Of the participants, 52% report some criminal offending, with drug-related and property crimes accounting for the majority of the offending. One quarter of the females in the sample were involved in prostitution. Of all the demographic factors used in this study, only gender discriminated between the sample in terms of level of offending, with females reporting the highest crime rates. Heroin use and crime measures were also associated, with persistent criminality related to the continued use of heroin. An analysis of the heroin use–criminality association found that only female gender predicted both increased rates of heroin use and increased rates of criminality. Implications of this finding are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adler, F. (1975). Sisters in crime: The rise of the new female criminal. New York: McGraw-Hill.
2.
Anglin, M. D., & Hser, Y. -I. (1990). Treatment of drug abuse. In M. Tonry & J. Wilson (Eds.), Drugs and crime(pp. 393-460). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
3.
Ball, J. C., Rosen, L., Flueck, J. A.,& Nurco, D. N. (1982). Lifetime criminality of heroin addicts in the United States. Journal of Drug Users, 12, 225-239.
4.
Ball, J. C., & Ross, A. (1991). The effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment: Patients, programs, services and outcomes. New York: Springer-Verlag.
5.
Ball, J. C., Schaffer, J. W.,& Nurco, D. N. (1983). The day to day criminality of heroin addicts in Baltimore—a study in the continuity of offence rates. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 12, 119-142.
6.
Bell, J. M., Hall, W.,& Bythe, K. (1992). Changes in criminal activity after entering methadone maintenance. British Journal of Addiction, 87, 251-258.
7.
Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., Roth, J. A., & Visher, C. A. (1986). Criminal careers and career criminals. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
8.
Brecht, M. L., Anglin, M. D.,& Wang, J. C. (1993). Treatment effectiveness for legally coerced versus voluntary methadone maintenance clients. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 19, 89-106.
9.
Capelhorn, J.R.M.,& Batey, R. G. (1992). Methadone maintenance in Australia. The Journal of Drug Issues, 23, 661-678.
10.
Chaiken, J. M., & Chaiken, M. R. (1990). Drugs and predatory crime. In M. Tonry & J. Q. Wilson (Eds.), Drugs and crime(pp. 203-320). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
11.
Collins, D. J., & Lapsley, H. M. (1991). Estimating the economic costs of drug abuse in Australia (Monograph Series No. 15, National Campaign Against Drug Abuse, Commonwealth Department of Community Services and Health). Canberra: Australian Government.
12.
Corty, E., Ball, J. C., & Myers, C. P. (1988). Psychological symptoms in methadone maintainance patients: Prevalence and change over treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 776-777.
13.
Cushman, P. (1988). Cocaine use in a population of drug abusers on methadone. Hospital andCommunity Psychiatry, 39, 1205-1207.
14.
Darke, S., Swift, W., Hall, W. (1994). Prevalence, severity and correlates of psychological morbidity among methadone maintainance clients. Addiction, 89, 211-217.
15.
Darke, S., Ward, J., Hall, W., Heather, N.,& Wodak, A. (1992). The opiate treatment index (OTI) manual. University of New SouthWales, Randwick, Australia: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.
16.
Dobinson, I., & Ward, P. (1987). Drugs and crime—Phase II. Sydney, Australia: New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Attorney General’s Department.
17.
Elliot, D. S., Huizinga, D., Ageton, S. S. (1985). Explaining delinquency and drug use. London: Sage.
18.
English, K. (1992). Self reported crime rates of women prisoners. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 9, 357-382.
19.
French, M. T., Zarkin, G. A., Hubbard, R. L.,& Rachal, J. V. (1993). The effects of time in drug abuse treatment and employment of post-treatment drug use and criminal activity. American Journal of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, 19, 19-33.
20.
Gandossey, R. P., Williams, J., Cohen, J.,& Harwood, H. (1980). Drugs and crime: A survey and analysis of the literature. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
21.
Grapendaal, M. (1992). Cutting their coat according to their cloth: Economic behaviour of Amsterdam opiate users. International Journal of the Addictions, 27, 487-501.
22.
Hall, W., Bell, J., & Carless, J. (1993). Crime and drug use among applicants for methadone maintainance treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 9, 383-387.
23.
Hammersley, R., Forsyth, A.,& Lavelle, T. (1990). The criminality of newdrug users in Glasgow. British Journal of Addiction, 85, 1583-1594.
24.
Hammersley, R., Forsyth, A., Morrison, V., & Davies, J. B. (1989). The relationship between crime and opioid use. British Journal of Addiction, 84, 1029-1043.
25.
Hser, Y. -I., Anglin, M. D.,& McGlothlin, W. H. (1986). Sex differences in addict careers: Initiation of use. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 8, 122-134.
26.
Hubbard, R. L., Allison, M., Bray, R. M., Craddock, S. G., Rachal, J. V.,& Ginzburg, H. M. (1983). An overview of client characteristics, treatment services and during-treatment outcomes for outpatient methadone clinics in the treatment outcome prospectives. Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
27.
Hunt, D. (1990). Drugs and consensual crime: Drug dealing and prostitution. In M. Tonry& J. Q. Wilson (Eds.), Drugs and crime(pp. 188-203). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
28.
Hunt, H. E., Lipton, D. S., & Spunt, B. (1984). Patterns of criminal activity among methadone clients and current narcotics users not in treatment. Journal of Drug Issues, 14, 687-702.
29.
Johnson, B. D., Goldstein, P. J., Perble, E., Schmeidler, J., Lipton, D. S., Spunt, B.,& Miller, T. (1985). Taking care of business: The economics of crime by heroin abusers. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
30.
Kingsbury, A.,& Lennings, C. J. (1996, July). Methadone maintenance: A hard reduction strategy for illicit opiate use. Proceedings of the Winter School In the Sun: Drugs—policies, programs and people conference, Brisbane, Australia, 133-136.
31.
Kokkevi, A., Liappas, J., Boukouvala, V., Alevizou, V., Anastassopoulou, E., & Stefanis, C. (1993). Criminality in a sample of drug users in Greece. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 31, 111-121.
32.
Kosten, T. R., Rounsaville, B., & Kleber, H. D. (1987). A 2.5 year follow up of cocaine use among treated opioid addicts: Have our treatments helped? Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 281-284.
33.
Lennings, C. J. (1998). Substance use and emotional state in university students. Journal of Substance Misuse, 3, 221-225.
34.
Lennings, C. J., Scott, L., Harris, J., Kingsbury, A., & Andrew, M. (in press). Dual diagnosis (comorbidity) among clients of a drug and alcohol outpatient service. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly.
35.
Lukoff, I., & Quatrone, D. (1973). Heroin use and crime in a methadone maintenance program: Two year follow-up of the Addiction and Research Corporation Program. In G. Hayim (Ed.), Heroin use in a methadone program. Washington, DC: Department of Justice.
36.
Maddux, J. F., & Desmond, D. P. (1975). Reliability and validity of information from chronic heroin users. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 87-95.
37.
Nurco, D. N. (1985). Adiscussion of validity. InB. A. Rouse, N. J. Kozel,& L. G. Richards (Eds.), Self report methods of estimating drug use: Meeting current challenges to validity. Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
38.
Nurco, D. N., Ball, J. C., Shaffer, J. W., & Hanlon, T. E. (1985). The criminality of narcotic addicts. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 173, 94-102.
39.
Nurco, D. N., Hanlon, T. E., Balter, M. B.,& Kinlock, T. W. (1991). Aclassification of narcotic addicts based on type, amount and severity of crime. Journal of Drug Issues, 21, 429-448.
40.
Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority. (1998). National Crime Authority Annual Report. Canberra, Australia: Attorney’s General Department, CommonwealthGovernment.
41.
Rolfe, J. L. (1989). Drug control: Legal alternatives and consequences. Unpublished manuscript.
42.
Senay, E. C. (1985). Methadone maintenance treatment. International Journal of the Addictions, 20, 803-821.
43.
Shaffer, J. W., Nurco, D. N., Ball, J. C., & Kinlock, T. W. (1985). The frequency of narcotic drug use and its relation to criminal activity among narcotic addicts. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 26, 558-566.
44.
Simpson, D. D., & Sells, S. B. (1982). Effectiveness of treatment for drug abuse: An overview of the DARP research program. Alcohol and Substance Abuse, 2, 7-29.
45.
Speckart, G., & Anglin, M. D. (1986, Winter). Narcotics use and crime: An overview of recent research advances. Contemporary Drug Problems, 741-755.
46.
Spunt, B. J. (1993). The link between identity and crime for the heroin addict in methadone treatment. International Journal of the Addictions, 28, 813-825.
47.
Stanton, M. D. (1978). Drug use surveys: Method and madness. International Journal of the Addictions, 12, 95-119.
48.
Sykes, G. M., & Cullen, F. T. (1992). Criminology. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
49.
Tambs, K., & Moun, T. (1993). How well can a few items indicate anxiety and depression? Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 87, 364-367.
50.
Ward, J., Mattick, R. P., & Hall, W. (1994). The effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment:An overview. Drug and Alcohol Review, 13, 327-336.
