The Drugs-Crime Relationship: An Analytical Framework

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Abstract
The relationship between drug use and criminal behavior has been of primary interest to researchers and practitioners for most of this century. As such, it is the purpose of this article to examine the historical underpinnings of current perceptions and to suggest an organizational paradigm for interpreting current drugs-crime literature. An overview of the literature and issues suggests that there is strong empirical evidence of the statistical overlap between drug using and criminal behavior. Further, drug use is seen as increasing and sustaining criminal behavior. However, a wide body of research suggests that drug use and crime have a complex recursive nature to their relationship, and that drug use, in spite of a long history of public perceptions, cannot be viewed as a direct and simple cause of crime. A review of subcultural, role, and ecological theory suggests that drug use and crime may emerge from the same etiological variables and become an integral part of a street-drug-using lifestyle and subculture. Radical theory argues that the drugs/crime relationship is created by social policy that makes drugs illegal. It is argued that this perspective fails to recognize the complexity of the drugs/crime relationship. The existing research suggests the need for increasing treatment availability and increasing economic opportunities within the framework of a careful review of drug policy and enforcement.