Drugs and crime: are they hand in glove? A review of literature

auteurs Charlotte Colman
  Liesbeth Vandam
tijdschrift GofS (ISSN: )
jaargang 2009
aflevering Contemporary Issues in the Empirical Study of Crime
onderdeel Artikelen
publicatie datum 13 maart 2009
taal English
pagina 21
samenvatting

In order to reach a diversified policy on drug related crime, it is important to gain an epidemiological insight into the amount of drug related crime in the totality of crimes committed.While the international literature on the epidemiology of drug related crime is scarce and patchy, in Belgium, epidemiological data on drug related crime is non-existent. The DRUGCRIM-research, “Drug related crime: definition
and measurement”, aims to fill this research gap. The DRUGCRIM-research started in October 2006 and ends in December 2008. The DRUGCRIM-research is part of the “Research programme in support of the federal drugs policy document”, commissioned and financed by the Federal Science Policy Office2. The first three months of the DRUGCRIM-research, a study of literature had been conducted in order to gain insight into the current state of affairs concerning scientific literature in the area of drug related crime. The aim of this working paper is to present the results of the literature study conducted within the framework of the DRUGCRIM-research3. In this working paper, we present the results of this literature study. Firstly, by way of introduction, we briefly explore the nature of the link between drugs and crime. Secondly, we describe the main theoretical models developed in scientific
literature in order to explain drug related crime, along with empirical research that supports or undermines them. Thirdly, we present an overview of the various methods used in scientific literature to measure drug related crime. The DRUGCRIM-research has some restrictions. The restrictions of the
DRUGCRIM-research obviously influence the scope of this working paper. In the first place, the principal focus of the DRUGCRIM-research is on illegal drugs. Based upon the original call for proposals, the research team opted for a problem formulation in the area of illegal drugs. We are aware of the consequences for the DRUGCRIM-research results. Alcohol as a drug is freely available in trade, while illegal drugs aren’t freely available. Obviously the difference concerning the (il)legal status of the product will influence the scope of crime related with it. We also believe that research on crime related to alcohol and polydrug use, is absolutely needed in order to complete this research domain. The second restriction refers to the exclusion of crime related with drug trafficking and drug production. This restriction had also arose from the original call for proposals by the financing organisation. During the first three months of the DRUGCRIM-research, we conducted a study of literature. In this working paper, we present the results of this literature study. The main search method was to search online databases and to conduct secondary searches from the selected articles. Databases consulted were Web of Science, Pubmed Central, Drugscope, the Home Office publications database, website of Exchange on Drug Demand Reduction Action (EDDRA), website of Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), website of European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), website of Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Documentatiecentrum (WODC), website of the Trimbos- instituut, and Sage Publications. The libraries of Ghent and Liège Universities were also consulted. The key search terms were: ‘drug related crime’, drugs AND crime. Other terms were specifically related to products: heroin (users), cocaine (users), ... . These terms were combined with types of criminal behaviour: violent crimes, property crimes, sexual offences,… .For the theoretical framework, we combined these terms with: ‘causality’, ‘relationship’, ‘link’. For the methodological part, these terms were combined with: methodology, measurement, self-report, police files, … . In addition, we also contacted experts in the drug related crime research field. When researching drug related crime, links with addiction are often made. However, due to its connotation with the most problematic group of drug users, the concept of addiction is outdated in scientific literature. Drug addiction is being increasingly replaced by the concepts of drug dependence, drug abuse and problematic drug use (Decorte, Kaminski, Muys & Slingeneyer, 2005; Trachtenberg & Flemming, 2007). In research on drug related crime, various concepts are used in describing the link between drug use and crime (Bennett & Holloway, 2005; EMCDDA, 2005). When we state that researchers are investigating the link between drug use/abuse/dependence and crime, we adopt the definitions of abuse/dependence/... used by the authors in their publications.