Prof. M. H-Evans Reims University A very short summary 5 minutes to summarise I shall mostly draw upon: Bennett T., Holloway K., Farrington D. (2008), The statistical association between drug misuse and crime: A meta-analysis, Aggression and Violent Behavior, n 13: (for drugs) And Lipsey, M.W., D.B. Wilson, M.A. Cohen & J.H. Derzon (1997). Is There a Causal Relationship Between Alcohol Use and Violence? A Synthesis of Evidence. In M. Galanter (ed.), Recent Developments in Alcoholism, Vol. 13: Alcoholism and Violence. New York: Plenum Press. (for alcohol) But also a few others 3 different theories 1. Enslavement theory or economic necessity theory: people need a lot of money to buy drugs as they are expensive. Not always the case though (alcohol; market flooding; even heroine these days) 2. Common causes theory: offenders and addicts have similar issues; so offending and addiction are caused by similar issues (in particular low self-control, personality disorders, antisocial cognitions, thoughts, attitudes and/or peers, genes). Not always the case 3. Co-existing problems. People who abuse substances and people who offend both have problematic behaviour issues and are both part of a generally deviant lifestyle/subculture. Not always the case does not explain alcohol => A combination of these? les trois mon gnral? Different interactions Offence committed in order to purchase the substance; Offence triggered or supported by an impaired judgment (while intoxicated) ; Offence triggered or supported by impaired skills (e.g. drink driving); Offence triggered or supported by impaired inhibition (while intoxicated); Offence triggered or supported by substance induced callousness (either whilst intoxicated or during withdrawal); In fewer cases: intoxication in order to commit the crime => sometimes a combination of (part of) the above Drugs Bennett et al., 2008 Odds of offending are betwen 2.8 and 3.8 times greater for drug users than for non drug-users : Crack-cocaine: 6 times higher; Heroine users: 3 times higher; Cocaine users: 2.5 times higher; Amphetamine users: 1.9 higher; Cannabis users: 1.5 higher. Pb: it does not account for differential treatment of different drugs Drugs Another pb is: studies included in the meta-analysis do not focus on the same offences. Some on property offences; others on violent offences. Stronger association is found with violence (Bennet et al.). For instance, regarding violence against women (a.k.a. domestic violence DV) another meta-analytic review of 96 studies (Moore et al., 2008) found that increases in drug use and drug-related problems were significantly associated with increases in DV (psychological abuse, violence, sex abuse) in aggression. The strongest association was found with cocaine. Alcohol Lipsey et alii have focused mainly on the alcohol and violence link They did find a strong correlation between alcohol and crime. Reminder: correlation does not mean that alcohol causes offending. To sum up were not sure that alcohol causes violence; we only think it possibly (partly) does (also see Ito, Miller & Pollock, 1996). Another simple rule is : it is not the principal factor. That being said alcohol is present in many cases and the person has committed the offence under the influence. And this is particularly true with alcohol. For instance Khun et alii (2013) have conducted a meta-analysis of 23 studies totalling 28,265 homicides and found that the offender was under the influence in 37% of cases. Alcohol A meta-analysis of 85 studies (Stith et al, 2004) found that five risk factors were strongly associated with DV, including, illicit drug use. Conversely only a moderate effect was found for 6 other factors, including alcohol use. But when one studies men entering treatment for alcohol use, one finds that about 50% of these men report having perpetrated VAW (which is about 5 times more than the general population) (Chermack et al., 1995) And many alcohol abusing perpretators are fully able of committing VAW whilst not intoxicated => a complex relationship to say the least! (Gondolf, 1999) What does it mean in terms of treatment Do not hope that just by adding a treatment obligation when the person abuses drugs or alcohol, youll sort the problem out. But you do need to add a treatment obligation. You do need to make sure substance abuse is dealt with. However, it is not - & by far - enough. You also need to deal with other criminogenic needs (e.g. antisocial beliefs, cognitions and attitudes, and peers; in many cases antisocial personality; employment and attitude towards employment, family circumstances, etc.). Also, in many cases substance abuse hides (the person self- medicates) a mental health issue (bipolar psychosis, borderline personality, trauma) which needs to be addressed Conclusion Yes there is a link between drug and crime A stronger link with - heroine - crack cocaine - cocaine - alcohol A lesser link with Cannabis Rfrences Bennett T., Holloway K., Farrington D. (2008), The statistical association between drug misuse and crime: A meta-analysis, Aggression and Violent Behavior, n 13: Chermack, S. T., Fuller, B. E., & Blow, F. C. (2000). Predictors of expressed partner and non-partner violence among patients in substance abuse treatment, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, n 58,:4354. Gondolf, E. (1999), Characteristics of court-mandated batterers in four cities: Diversity and dichotomies, Violence Against Women, n 5: 12771293 Ito T.A., Miller N. & Pollock V.E. (1996). Alcohol and Aggression: A Meta-Analysis on the Moderating Effects of Inhibitory Cues, Triggering Events, and Self-Focused Attention. Psychological Bulletin, n 120: 6082. Khun J.B., Clodfelter T.A. & Bottia M.C. (2013), The Prevalence of Alcohol-Involved Homicide offending: A Meta-Analycit Review, Homicide Studies, Online DOI: / Lipsey M.W., Wilson D.B., Cohen M.A. & Derzon J.H. (1997). Is There a Causal Relationship Between Alcohol Use and Violence? A Synthesis of Evidence. In M. Galanter (ed.), Recent Developments in Alcoholism, Vol. 13: Alcoholism and Violence. New York: Plenum Press. Moore T.M., Stuart G.L., Meehan J.C., Rhatigan D.L., Hellmuth J.C. & Keen S.M. (2008), Drug abuse and aggression between intimate partner s. A meta-analytic review, Clinical Psychlogy Review, n 28: Stith, S. M., Smith, D. B., Penn, C. E., Ward, D. B., & Tritt, D. (2004), Intimate partner physical abuse perpetration and victimization risk factors: A meta-analytic review, Aggression and Violent Behavior, n 10: 6598. West R. & Brown J. (2013), Theory of Addictions. Wiley Merci! Thank you!@ProfMEvans