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      • Record: found
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      Quantifying crime associated with drug use among a large cohort of sanctioned offenders in England and Wales

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          Highlights

          • •

            Opiate use is associated with elevated (acquisitive and non-acquisitive) offending.

          • •

            The association between drug use and crime is stronger for women than men.

          • •

            Cocaine use is associated with offending among males but not among females.

          • •

            Opiate and cocaine use is associated with 25 times the rate of prostitution (females only).

          Abstract

          Aim

          To assess the relationship between testing positive for opiates and/or cocaine and prior offending.

          Methods

          139,925 persons (107,573 men) identified from a saliva test for opiate and cocaine metabolites following arrest in England and Wales, 1 April 2005–31 March 2009, were case-linked with 2-year recorded offending history. The prior offending rate, accounting for estimated incarceration periods, was calculated by: drug-test outcome; gender; four main crime categories (acquisitive, non-acquisitive, serious acquisitive, and non-serious acquisitive) and 16 sub-categories. Rate ratio (RR) compared opiate and/or cocaine positive to dual-negative testers. Adjusted rate ratio (aRR) controlled for age at drug test.

          Results

          The relationship between testing positive for opiates and cocaine and prior 2-year offending was greater for women than men (aRR men 1.77; 95% CI: 1.75–1.79: women 3.51; 3.45–3.58). The association was weaker for those testing positive for opiates only (aRR: men: 1.66, 1.64–1.68; women 2.73, 2.66–2.80). Men testing positive for cocaine only had a lower rate of prior offending (aRR: 0.93, 0.92–0.94), women had a higher rate (aRR: 1.69, 1.64–1.74). The strongest associations were for non-serious acquisitive crimes (e.g. dually-positive: prostitution (women-only): aRR 24.9, 20.9–29.7; shoplifting: aRR men 4.05, 3.95–4.16; women 6.16, 5.92–6.41). Testing positive for opiates and cocaine was associated with violent offences among women (aRR: 1.54, 1.40–1.69) but not men (aRR: 0.98, 0.93–1.02).

          Conclusions

          Among drug-tested offenders, opiate use is associated with elevated prior offending and the association is stronger for women than men. Cocaine use is associated with prior offending only among women.

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          Most cited references22

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          Age and Crime

          David P Farrington (1986)
          Article 0 comments Cited 185 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            Sex related HIV risk behaviors: differential risks among injection drug users, crack smokers, and injection drug users who smoke crack.

            Robert E Booth, Carol Kwiatkowski, Dale Chitwood (2000)
            This study was designed to assess differences in sex-related risk behaviors between drug injectors who did not smoke crack cocaine, crack smokers who did not inject drugs, and drug users who both injected drugs and smoked crack. Current drug users (i.e. used within the past 30 days) from 22 cities were recruited and assessed. The sample (n = 26,982) included 28% who injected only, 42% who smoked crack only, and 30% who both injected and smoked crack. Results showed that active drug users were at risk of HIV infection through sexual transmission: in the 30 day period prior to their interview, 28% reported sex with two or more individuals, 23% had an IDU sex partner, and 24% had exchanged sex for drugs or money. In addition, more than 80% did not use a condom during sex. Crack only smokers and crack smoking injectors were more likely than injectors only to report multiple sex partners and exchanging sex. Because of these high risk behaviors, condom use was of particular importance. The number of days of alcohol use and having an IDU sex partner were independently associated with not using a condom. Crack smoking injectors reported the highest average number of days of alcohol consumption and were the most likely to have had an IDU sex partner.
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              Sexual behaviour and its relationship to drug-taking among prostitutes in south London.

              M Gossop, J. Eric Sträng, B Powis … (1994)
              The precise manner in which the use of different types of drugs is related to prostitution has not been adequately researched. This study investigates patterns of drug-taking and sexual behaviour among a group of women working as prostitutes in south London; it also looks at prostitution in which sex is offered in return for drugs, at the links between heroin, cocaine and alcohol use and sexual behaviour, and at the association between severity of dependence and sexual behaviour. All of the women in our sample (n = 51) were actively working as prostitutes. More than half of them had given sex for drugs, though this was a relatively infrequent occurrence. The majority of them were using heroin and many of them were moderately or severely dependent upon heroin. More than one-third had shared injecting equipment after it had already been used. Almost two-thirds reported that they only worked as a prostitute in order to fund their use of drugs (predominantly heroin), and that they would not continue working as a prostitute if they were not still using drugs. The more severely dependent upon heroin they were, the more likely they were to report these links between heroin use and prostitution. About half of the women in our sample said that they first started to work as a prostitute in order to pay for drugs. The women who began to use heroin prior to prostitution were more severely dependent on heroin and described themselves as being trapped in prostitution by the need to maintain a supply of heroin. Very few women regularly used cocaine in association with their prostitution. There are grounds for concern about the alcohol consumption of these women. About one-quarter of the women said that they used alcohol every day; some of them reported drinking at levels which greatly exceed recommended limits for women, and some were drinking at levels which were likely to be physically damaging.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Matthias Pierce
                Karen Hayhurst
                Sheila M. Bird
                Matthew Hickman
                Toby Seddon
                Graham Dunn
                Tim Millar
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Drug Alcohol Depend
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Drug Alcohol Depend
                Title: Drug and Alcohol Dependence
                Publisher: Elsevier
                ISSN (Print): 0376-8716
                ISSN (Electronic): 1879-0046
                Publication date PMC-release: 01 October 2015
                Publication date (Print): 01 October 2015
                Volume: 155
                Pages: 52-59
                Affiliations
                [a ]Centre for Mental Health and Risk, University of Manchester, 4th Floor, Ellen Wilkinson Building, Oxford Road, M13 9PL Manchester, UK
                [b ]MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, University Forvie Site, Robinson Way, CB2 0SR Cambridge, UK
                [c ]School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Road, BS8 2PS Bristol, UK
                [d ]School of Law, University of Manchester, 4.46A Williamson Building, Oxford Road, M13 9PL Manchester, UK
                [e ]Centre for Biostatistics, University of Manchester, Jean McFarlane Building (First Floor), Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author. tim.millar@ 123456manchester.ac.uk
                Article
                Publisher ID: S0376-8716(15)01611-7
                DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.08.018
                PMC ID: 4768078
                PubMed ID: 26361712
                SO-VID: a228e4c9-fc4a-44d7-a7d2-89a454fea09c
                Copyright © © 2015 The Authors
                License:

                This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                Date received : 17 February 2015
                Date revision received : 17 August 2015
                Date accepted : 18 August 2015
                Categories
                Subject: Article

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Health & Social care
                Keywords: drug use and crime,gender,opioid and cocaine use,acquisitive offending
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Health & Social care
                Keywords: drug use and crime, gender, opioid and cocaine use, acquisitive offending

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