Intensification Patterns

One of the strongest connections between psychoactive substance use and crime appears to be in the role that drugs can play in intensifying criminal activity once drug use begins. Research shows this pattern to be quite common and this effect may account for some of the tendency to causally connect drugs and crime. For example, Chaiken and Chaiken (1990) studied crime frequencies among drug-using populations and concluded that the strongest relationship to crime rates was the amount or frequency of drug use and not drug use alone. They also found that rates of criminal behavior vary with the amount of drugs used. McBride and McCoy (1993) determined that “once illegal drug use is initiated, it has a dramatic effect on the amount of criminal activity” a person engages in (p. 268). They concluded that the frequency of drug use has a strong impact on the extent, direction and duration of a criminal career. It has been demonstrated that, for juvenile delinquents, criminal activity intensifies slightly earlier for drug users than non-drug users (Brochu et al. 1995). Finally, Farabee et al. (2001) reported that the research demonstrates that high rates of drug and alcohol use are positively associated with frequent criminality. Their data suggest that drug dependence may be an intensifying factor in predatory crimes, and both causal and intensifying for victimless crimes.

Patterns of Crimes Committed by Type of Substance Used

There appears to be a relationship between the type of substance used to the type of crime, and the intensity of drug use to the intensity of criminal activity. Use of expensive drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, seems linked to more criminal acts. Drug use appears to be related to crimes of acquisition, while alcohol seems to be more closely associated with violent crime. These connections help explain the role that substance abuse may play in intensifying criminal behavior. Heavy use of expensive drugs may lead to the intensification of an already developed pattern of criminal activity. Use of alcohol may lead to aggression in those whose belief systems are favorably predisposed to the use of violence.

In a study of Canadian juveniles, Brochu et al. (1995) found that non-drug using delinquents committed acquisitive crimes as frequently as they committed violent crimes, but that drug using delinquents committed predominately crimes of acquisition, and more of them. For example, the average number of thefts reported by drug users was 35.8, while the number for non-drug users was 24.8. Many studies have found that heavy drug use, especially use of the more expensive drugs like heroin and cocaine, is positively associated with frequent criminal activity (Ball et al. 1981, Nurco et al. 1988). Farabee et al. (2001) reported that those who are dependent on cocaine and/or heroin were involved with a greater variety of crimes. They also concluded that “…some forms of illicit drug dependence, when compared with alcohol dependence alone, are associated with reduced likelihood of participating exclusively in predatory crime” (p. 217).

In a study of adult prisoners and arrestees, Pernanen et al. (2002) found that: “Alcohol appears to have a somewhat stronger causal impact on serious crime that do drugs. Drugs seem to have a stronger impact than alcohol on minor crimes, such as shoplifting, prostitution, drug possession and small-scale trafficking” (p. 116). On the other hand, Maxwell and Maxwell (2000), in a thorough study on the drug-prostitution nexus, determined that crack cocaine was the only drug whose use had a positive association to the frequency of prostitution, but that age of onset of use was also a factor; having a positive effect on crime when the age of onset of crack cocaine use was fourteen years or younger.

In 1993 McBride and McCoy suggested that, “sequentially examining each of the specific intersections between each type of drug and each type of crime could help build a systematic body of knowledge about the totality of the drugs-crime relationship” (p. 264). Unfortunately, this research suggestion is still valid, a decade later.