In reviewing 15 years of research on the subject, Farabee et al. (2001) concluded that two main interpretations were drawn: “Early onset of criminal activity is one of the strongest predictors of criminal severity, and frequent criminality is positively correlated with high levels of drug and alcohol use” (p. 196). This led them to state in this report that “the nature of interacting addiction and criminal careers is complex and merits further study” (p. 197).

Initiation Patterns

One of the most predominate methods used by researchers to unravel the interconnection between substance use and crime is to study the order in which these two behaviors appear in an individual. The logic is that if one behavior, drug use, causes the other, crime, it would occur first. A number of studies have examined this and they have repeatedly found that crime, or delinquent behavior in the case of youth, tends to occur before the onset of substance use.

For example, Chaiken and Chaiken (1990) conclude that “Among populations involved in drug abuse and predatory crime, a temporal sequence from drug abuse to predatory criminality is not typical; on the contrary, predatory criminality more commonly occurs before drug abuse.” They conclude that research does not support the view that drug abuse precedes onset of criminal activity, and it does not show a causal ordering between drug use and criminal activity. They also point to a study of Fagan, Weis and Cheng (1990) that found that youth who engage in predatory crime are more likely to use illicit drugs than youth who engage in illicit drug use are to commit predatory crimes. They go on to cite quantitative research that does not support the belief that drug use leads to crime, and point out facts such as:

• youth’s delinquent behavior begins before initial drug use as often as it occurs afterwards;
• while “…over two-thirds of youthful users of drugs are likely to continue use as adults…half of the juveniles who commit crimes stop” in early adulthood; and
• criminality is more predictive of future drug use than drug use is if criminality (p. 219).

From an extensive literature review on primarily quantitative research, McBride and McCoy (1993) concluded that: “For the past 20 years, researchers have consistently found that individuals who frequently use illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, or marijuana have engaged in criminal behavior prior to or concurrent with the initiation of any stable illegal drug use pattern” (p. 267). Additionally, Brochu et al. (1995), in a survey of 310 juveniles, determined that the average age of onset of delinquent behavior was 10 years, the onset of alcohol consumption was 12 years and drug use began at age 13. In another survey of youth in Canada, Brunelle et al. (2000) found that: “The majority of respondents revealed that they had committed crimes before their respective initial experiences with illicit drugs” (p. 862). Finally, in a study of 7,189 clients in community based substance abuse treatment, Farabee et al. (2001) found that offenders who commit mainly predatory crimes tend to begin addictions at a younger age but mainly after the onset of criminal behavior. In this article the term predatory “refers to crimes in which the ‘victim’ is not a consenting participant, as contrasted with drug sales or prostitution” (p. 218). These authors also established that offenders who engage in mostly victimless crimes began their addictions careers before the onset of criminal activity.