However, Maher et al oppose this view, stating that 69 per cent of participants ‘reported the onset of criminal behaviour prior to the onset of regular heroin use.’ Therefore, these two studies are in opposition to one another. Both studies, however, have quite a small sample, and they fail to provide information on the method utilised in obtaining their sample, and whether the sample was cross-sectional. However, Maher et al maintain that even if an individual started committing property crimes prior to drug use, it would be necessary to continue committing property crimes in order to sustain his or her drug habit.
McBride and McCoy assert a third view — that the link between crime and drugs is insignificant, and rather it is human ecology that is important. This ecological perspective suggests that the neighbourhood in which an individual resides ‘is important for permitting certain behaviours such as particular types of drug use and crime.’ Thus it is not heroin that is the issue, but rather social groupings. However, this perspective fails to take into account the importance of the price of heroin, as revealed in the heroin drought of 2000. During this drought the crime rate increased dramatically as a result of the increase in heroin prices. This reveals that crime is not solely attributable to human ecology and it is therefore ‘the cost of use which turns drug abusers into criminals.’
3. The price of heroin and its effect on the crime rate
There is a definite lack of research available in this field. Packer, in The Limits of the Criminal Sanction provides a thorough analysis on the economic theory of inelasticity of demand. He clearly explains that the demand of heroin is inelastic; this occurs ‘when the commodity is something that people want so badly that they don’t think much about price.’ Therefore, it is does not matter how much the price of heroin increases, because people will always continue to purchase this addictive drug.
Donnelly et al in ‘The Impact of the Australian Heroin Shortage on Robbery in NSW,’ validates this notion with the example of the heroin shortage in Christmas 2000. The average cost of a gram of heroin in Cabramatta ‘had risen by 75 per cent: from $218 before the shortage to $381 afterwards.’ Immediately after the shortage the robbery rate in NSW jumped 55 per cent in just two months. In Figure 2, Donnelly et al clearly reveal this jump, and the decline in robbery over the following two years.
Donnelly et al concluded that the crime increase was caused by two factors; the first was because many heroin users switched to the cheaper and more readily available drug, cocaine. Cocaine incites much more violence and aggression within the user than heroin does, and thus could cause an increase in burglaries. The most likely reason, however, is that it was necessary for users to commit more property crimes in order to purchase the costly heroin.
A study completed by Silverman and Spruill in 1977, also exhibited the close relationship between levels of expenditure on heroin and time series trends in robbery in Detroit in the United States. However, this study was completed almost three decades ago internationally, and thus does not provide adequate information for current prices on heroin and its effect on robbery trends in Australia. Chilvers and Weatherburn discuss this problem, stating that there is a significant lack of national and international literature available on the price of heroin and its effect on the crime rate. Therefore, minimal research is available in this field. Despite this, the article by Donnelly et al was very thorough and provided evidence of this trend in Cabramatta and in New South Wales. Moreover, this article provided information on the method chosen and the exact formulas that were used to generate the conclusion that the steep price increase that occurred during Christmas 2000 was the determinative factor for the increase in robbery.
4. The effect that lower heroin prices would have on the crime rate
Only three authors raise the issue of whether a decrease in the price of heroin would lead to a decline in the crime rate. Mukherjee stated that it is the high cost of heroin that causes addicts to commit crime, and ‘the implication is, therefore, that a decrease in price may result in a decrease in property crime.’ However, he fails to substantiate this; rather he merely notes that there has been an increase in the price of heroin, and an increase in robbery rates. He does not discuss this issue further, nor does he generate a conclusion as to why this may occur.
The two other articles commissioned the Salvation Army and the Dutch Drug Policy Foundation, discuss legalisation and its impact on the price of heroin and crime. However, because they are exploring the effect of legalisation on the crime rate, they fail to adequately explore the issue of price of heroin and its correlation with the crime rate. Furthermore, the purpose of this literature review is not to discuss the effect of legalisation, but specifically the effect that the price of heroin has on the property crime rate.
There is literature available on the amendment of the Customs Act 1901 (Cth) in 1953, when heroin was criminalised, however there is inadequate data available on the link between the price of heroin and crime. Similarly, although Platzspitz in Switzerland, and the Netherlands have trialled heroin injection, heroin prescription and decriminalisation — this has not affected the cost of heroin available to the majority of heroin users. Therefore, there is a distinct lack of literature and research available on whether a decrease in the price of heroin would cause a decline in burglary rates.
Conclusion
There are several problems with research in this field. Firstly, data on burglary and the price of heroin must be documented over a period of years. Secondly, a significant number of robberies are not reported to the police; and furthermore, not all of these are recorded. A third problem, as noted by Chilvers and Weatherburn, is the difficulty in obtaining the exact price of heroin during a particular period. This is because the price of heroin increases as it travels further down the drug supply ladder and because the price of heroin may differ between suburbs.
There are also gaps in the literature available on this topic. For example, studies have a propensity to focus on the relationship between drugs and crime, or the effectiveness of drugs treatments in reducing crime— rather than studying the price of heroin and its relationship with crime. Despite these gaps, existing research has laid the foundations for further research in this field. This review therefore suggests that future research is necessary in order to determine whether a reduction in the price of heroin would result in a decrease of the burglary rate.
Bibliography
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Chilvers, M. and Weatherburn, D. (2003), The Impact of Heroin Dependence on Long-term Robbery Trends, Crime and Justice Bulletin 79, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney.
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Dobson, I. and Ward, P. Drugs and Crime (1985) in Brown, D. et al, Criminal Laws: Material and Commentary on Criminal Law and the Process of Law in NSW. (2001), The Federation Press, Sydney.
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Donnelly, N, Weatherburn, D. and Chilvers, M. (2004), The Impact of the Australian Heroin Shortage on Robbery in NSW, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney.
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Maher, L. Dixon, D. Lynskey, M. and Hall, W. Running the Risks: Heroin, Health and Harm in South West Sydney. (1998), NDARC Monograph No 38, in Brown, D. et al, Criminal Laws: Material and Commentary on Criminal Law and the Process of Law in NSW. (2001), The Federation Press, Sydney.
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McBride, D. and McCoy, C. Crime and Drug-using Behaviour: An Areal Analysis, in Knipe, E. Culture, Society and Drugs: The Social Science Approach to Drug Use. (1995), Waveland Press, Illinois.
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Mukherjee, S. and Jorgensen, L. Burglary: A Social Reality, (1986) Proceedings of Seminar on Burglary, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra.
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Packer, H, The Limits of the Criminal Sanction, (1968) in Brown, D. et al, Criminal Laws: Material and Commentary on Criminal Law and the Process of Law in NSW. (2001), The Federation Press, Sydney.
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Stevens, A. et al, QCT Summary Literature Review: The International Literature on Drugs, Crime and Treatment. (2003), University of Kent. http://www.kent.ac.uk/eiss/Documents/qcteurope/QCT%20Europe%20summary%20lit%20review.pdf
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The Salvation Army Rehabilitation Services Command and Community Relations Department, The Official Salvation Army Response to Proposed Heroin Trials, (1997).
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Van der Haar, J, Drug Control Through Legalisation: A Plan for Regulation of the Drug Problem in the Netherlands, Dutch Drug Policy Foundation, 1996.
Elizabeth Herbert – 40328104
Chilvers, M. and Weatherburn, D. (2003), The Impact of Heroin Dependence on Long-term Robbery Trends, Crime and Justice Bulletin 79, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney.
Please note that this purpose of this literature review is not to look at the impact of legalisation and its effect on the crime rate, but specifically the price of heroin. Legalisation is just one way in which the price of heroin would be significantly reduced.
Van der Haar, J, Drug Control Through Legalisation: A Plan for Regulation of the Drug Problem in the Netherlands, Dutch Drug Policy Foundation, 1996.
Maher, L. Dixon, D. Lynskey, M. and Hall, W. Running the Risks: Heroin, Health and Harm in South West Sydney. (1998), NDARC Monograph No 38, in Brown, D. et al, Criminal Laws: Material and Commentary on Criminal Law and the Process of Law in NSW. (2001), The Federation Press, Sydney, at 1076–1081.
Maher, L. Dixon, D. Lynskey, M. and Hall, (n 4) at 1076–1081.
Chilvers, M. and Weatherburn, D. (n 1)
Mukherjee, S. and Jorgensen, L. Burglary: A Social Reality, (1986) Proceedings of Seminary on Burglary, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra.
McBride, D. and McCoy, C. Crime and Drug-using Behaviour: An Areal Analysis in Knipe, E. Culture, Society and Drugs: The Social Science Approach to Drug Use. (1995), Waveland Press, Illinois.
The Salvation Army Rehabilitation Services Command and Community Relations Department, The Official Salvation Army Response to Proposed Heroin Trials, (1997).
Stevens, A. et al, QCT Summary Literature Review: The International Literature on Drugs, Crime and Treatment. (2003), University of Kent.
Dobson, I. and Ward, P. Drugs and Crime (1985) in Brown, D. et al, Criminal Laws: Material and Commentary on Criminal Law and the Process of Law in NSW. (2001), The Federation Press, Sydney, at 1079.
Mukherjee, S. and Jorgensen, L. (n 7)
Mukherjee, S. and Jorgensen, L. (n 7)
Maher, L. Dixon, D. Lynskey, M. and Hall, W. (n 4) at 1078.
Maher, L. Dixon, D. Lynskey, M. and Hall, W. (n 4)
McBride, D. and McCoy, C. (n 8)
The heroin drought of 2000 will be further discussed in Section 3. Donnelly, N, Weatherburn, D. and Chilvers, M. (2004), The Impact of the Australian Heroin Shortage on Robbery in NSW, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney.
The Salvation Army Rehabilitation Services Command and Community Relations Department, (n 9)
Packer, H, The Limits of the Criminal Sanction, (1968) in Brown, D. et al, Criminal Laws: Material and Commentary on Criminal Law and the Process of Law in NSW. (2001), The Federation Press, Sydney, at 1083.
Donnelly, N, Weatherburn, D. and Chilvers, M. (n 17)
Donnelly, N, Weatherburn, D. and Chilvers, M. (n 17)
Chilvers, M. and Weatherburn, D. (n 1)
Chilvers, M. and Weatherburn, D. (n 1)
Mukherjee, S. and Jorgensen, L. (n 7) at 228.
The Salvation Army Rehabilitation Services Command and Community Relations Department, (n 9)
These are the two most recent examples of numerous countries that have been trialing various heroin treatment programs. The Salvation Army Rehabilitation Services Command and Community Relations Department, (n 9)
Chilvers, M. and Weatherburn, D. (n 1)
Chilvers, M. and Weatherburn, D. (n 1)