Drugs and crime revisited

The relationship between drugs and crime is investigated, building on previous research by Huizinga, Menard, and Elliott and by Goldstein and his colleagues. The previous research is extended by examining the relationship between drugs and crime at different stages of the life course, adolescence and early adulthood; by extending the age range used in previous research by Huizinga and colleagues; and by examining the impact of adolescent substance use and illegal behavior on adult substance use and illegal behavior. The results are consistent with past research in finding that (1) for initiation, the “drug use causes crime” hypothesis is untenable because crime typically is initiated before substance use; (2) more serious forms of crime and substance use usually are initiated after minor forms of those behaviors, and rarely in the absence of such behaviors; and (3) once crime and substance use are initiated, each appears to increase the likelihood of continuity of the other or (equivalently) to reduce the likelihood of suspension. Beyond results from prior research, it also appears that (4) crime and drug use are more closely related in adolescence than in adulthood, and that (5) examination of the transition from adolescence to adulthood suggests that the most plausible conclusion is that drugs and crime are related by mutual causation: crime affects drug use and drug use affects crime.