For this project, the issue of drug related crime will be discussed at length and in great detail. The current issues, along with older and recent trends of crimes which are related to drugs will be analysed and compared to 'paint a clearer picture'

De Montfort University, Leicester

Department of Law

LLB Criminology

Coursework 3 – April 2005

Drug Related Crime

For this project, the issue of drug related crime will be discussed at length and in great detail. The current issues, along with older and recent trends of crimes which are related to drugs will be analysed and compared to ‘paint a clearer picture’ of the extent of drug related crime. The links between drugs and crime will be discussed and analysed along with any theories about the link. I will also research some recent statistics from various sources such as the British Crime Survey (BCS) or any other publications which may help to explain any links between drugs and crime.

Firstly, as the term ‘drug’ is so broad and can have many different meanings and definitions, we must define what is meant by ‘drugs’. Drugs have different meanings and uses to different people. The Oxford Dictionary defines the term ‘drug’ as ‘a substance used as a medicine or an illegal substance taken for the effects is has on the body’. This ‘official’ definition in the Oxford dictionary can be seen as a rather ‘basic’ definition of what a drug is, as it is my opinion that the definition of drug for this context goes beyond the one stated above. For example, the definition above has no mention of any sort of effects which drugs have on people or gives no further explanation of what constitutes an ‘illegal’ drug.

For the purpose of this project, there will be two main distinguished categories of drugs. These will be 1) illegal drugs and 2) legal drugs.

While, in my opinion, most crimes which are labelled as being related to drugs or are committed to further a drug addiction are committed as a result of dependency on illegal drugs, it is far too often forgotten that there are many legal drugs which are readily available to the public which may be the cause of crime, and more specifically drug related crime. The most popular legal drug, not defined by the Oxford dictionary, is alcohol. Alcohol is available freely and widely, and is very easily and readily accessible by almost anyone who wishes to obtain it. Although in the UK nobody under the age of 18 can buy alcohol, it is not uncommon for this illegal activity to be carried out in off-licences or bars. Before continuing the analysis of crimes relating to legal drugs, the major issue of crimes linked to illegal drugs will be considered and discussed.

The illegal drug market is a thriving and ever-growing one. Under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, in Britain illegal drugs have been classified into 3 categories, namely A, B and C, with A being the category with the more ‘serious’ and harmful drugs and those drugs which carry more serious punishments. Under the 1971 Act, Class ‘A’ drugs include substances such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and amphetamines which are prepared to be injected. Usually, if convicted of possession of Class ‘A’ drugs, the courts can order a prison sentence of up to seven years and a fine which is at the courts’ discretion but a maximum penalty of life imprisonment plus as fine is possible for the ‘smuggling’ and trafficking of Class ‘A’ drugs.

Class ‘B’ drugs, such as non-injecting amphetamines and barbiturates carry a lesser sentence of a maximum of five years imprisonment plus a fine if convicted of possession of a class ‘B’ drug and a maximum of 14 years imprisonment plus a fine if convicted of trafficking Class ‘B’ drugs. Until 2002, cannabis was classed as a Class ‘B’ drug, but the Runciman inquiry called for it to be re-classified as a Class ‘C’ drug. Class ‘C’ is the lowest class of drugs and includes drugs such as mild amphetamines, anabolic steroids and valium. Possession of a Class ‘C’ drug carries a maximum prison sentence of two years and trafficking of a Class ‘C’ drug carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. (BBC, 2001)

It must also be noted that all of the above mentioned drugs have different effects and are taken by drug users for many different reasons. Some drug users claim they take drugs to ‘help’ them, for example at a time of stress. However, there are many drug users who abuse the drugs purely for pleasure purposes and for the effects they have on the human body. The Oxford Handbook of Criminology gives a brief explanation of the different effects the above drugs have. It says that drugs such as alcohol and heroin have depressant effects on the nervous system as opposed to amphetamines and cocaine which have a stimulant effect on the nervous system. Maguire et al go on to say that cannabis, LSD and ecstasy distort perception and have a relaxing effect which is more common as the effect of cannabis which was re-classed to a Class C drug as mentioned above. Maguire et al also recognise the important point that effects of all the above mentioned drugs depend on other ‘factors’ too such as strength of the drug, culture and also expectation.

As I mentioned above, I will consider the trends of drug use, both legal and illegal, over the last 50 years or so. By examining and knowing the trends of drug use and any patterns which have emerged over the last half-century, it may be possible to have a clearer explanation as to any trends and patterns which have emerged in drug related crime over the same period of time.

Maguire et al refer to what the Royal College of Psychiatrists labelled alcohol as in the 1980s. The College called alcohol ‘Our Favourite Drug’. Even for a layperson who has not carried out any research of any kind, it would be evident that over the last 50 years, alcohol consumption and availability have increased at an alarming rate. It would be understandable if the alcohol consumption rate had increased steadily over half a century, but the fact that it is a steep rise and not a steady and gradual one is a cause for concern. This can already be seen as an important and essential factor in deciding whether drugs, legal though they (alcohol) may be, have a causal link to crime. Some possible reasons for a sharp increase in the consumption of alcohol, explained by Maguire et al, are an increase in disposable incomes of individuals and as families. With more and more people going into higher and further education onto universities and graduating with high class degrees which eventually means a higher salary, it is much more likely for such people to have the necessary disposable income to spend on alcohol. As a personal opinion, another reason for the increase in consumption of ‘our favourite drug’ is the fast developed drinking culture in the UK. It seems more ‘socially acceptable’ nowadays for a routine visit to the ‘pub’ after work or on the weekends, for example. This change in leisure patterns was also noticed by Maguire et al.

Another significant reason for the increase in alcohol consumption with which I agree with Maguire et al, is the mass marketing and wide availability of ‘designer’ drinks and flavoured drinks known as ‘Alco-pops’ which are specifically aimed and targeted at a much younger audience, such as students who are, in my opinion, more likely to binge drink and be in a drunken state which may cause crimes to be committed even if they are not intended while in a drunk state.

Maguire’s Oxford Handbook of Criminology states the unusual and maybe unknown fact that deaths (non-criminal linked) associated with illegal ...

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Maguire’s Oxford Handbook of Criminology states the unusual and maybe unknown fact that deaths (non-criminal linked) associated with illegal drugs are far less than those associated with alcohol. The Advisory Council on Misuse of drugs in 1999 issued that in 1998 there were between 1076 and 2997 deaths from the misuse of illegal drugs, while Alcohol Concern reported 4907 deaths in 1997 in which alcohol had some relevance however a massive 25000-40000 deaths where alcohol was ‘a significant contributory cause’. (Maguire et al, 2002). However, an important point to remember when considering these statistics is that one should not assume illegal drugs cause less harm than legal drugs as Maguire et al noted.

Since the 1950s the amount and level of drug use has increased. The reasons for using legal and illegal drugs may have changed over the last 50 years, but there is still an increase in the use of them. Maguire et al quote from Berridge which shows that in the early 1950s in the UK there was no major issue of drug addiction and crime but a few years into the late 1950s it was evident that a drug culture was slowly emerging. Berridge in 1999 said that “the number of addicts known to the Home Office, most in medically related professions remained low at between 300 and 400…but prosecutions for the use of cannabis began to rise”. This indicated that towards the late ‘50s availability of drugs such as cannabis became easier and the ‘hype’ and ‘trend’ of using such drugs started here. The number of drug addicts in the 1960s increased according to the Home Office which again suggested that a trend or ‘craze’ was quickly emerging in the UK. By this time, the users of drugs had changed from mostly medical professionals to young, working and middle-class people and also those associated with the hippy life-style. (Maguire et al, 2002). What seemed like a steady increase from the ‘50s to the end of the ‘60s stopped during the 1970s as there was no major increase in the number of addicts (only 4607 new addicts between 1973 to 1977 (Maguire et al, 2002)). At the end of the 1970s and during the 1980s an increase in the use of heroin was noticed. An increased availability within the illegal drug market meant that, according to Maguire et al, a new ‘era’ was opening. By the end of the 1980s much of the heroin in circulation was imported into the UK and there was an increase in cocaine availability with an estimate of between 74000 and 112000 people addicted (Maguire et al, 2002).

As I mentioned previously, nowadays there is a drinking/drug culture amongst people belonging to various age groups and Maguire et al also recognise that during the 1990s and into the 21st century there was no hidden drug culture, but in-fact it was a “visible part of mainstream culture and ‘normalized’”.

Now that we have discussed the different classes of illegal drugs and the trends of legal and illegal drug use over the past 50 years, we can look at what type of crimes are linked with these drugs.

When referring to crime, one must ask ‘what is crime?’

In the present context, there are a number of crimes which can be classed as drug related and are counted and reported as drug related crimes. It is not uncommon for drug related crimes only to be seen as physical crimes including assaults or theft. However, the reality is that there are offences committed which are ‘drug related’ even where there is no physical crime which one would usually associate with drugs. For example, simply possessing an illegal drug is a crime. Can this be regarded as a ‘drug related’ crime? The answer is yes, as a criminal offence is being committed under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a result of unlawfully possessing illegal drugs. According to Home Office ‘Recorded Crime Statistics’, in 1998-1999 drug offences such as being in possession of illegal drugs or drug trafficking which are contrary to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 accounted for 2.7% of all recorded crime (which accounts for 135,945 drug offences out of a total of 5,109,089 recorded offences). However, the same statistics in 2001-2002 reported a decrease in the contribution of drug related crime to overall reported crime to 2.2%, although overall recorded crime increased (this accounted for 121,332 drug offences out of a total of 5,527,082 recorded offences). This statistic can suggest a number of issues. Either there really was a low level of these offences being committed, or they are being committed but are failed to be reported and recorded. In my opinion, I believe the latter is the case in reality. However, statistics compiled by the Home Office in 2001 clearly showed that the idea of less of these crimes being committed was not true. Home Office figures showed that almost 56kg of crack cocaine was seized in 2001, more than double of what was seized in 2000. There was a 16% increase in the amount of heroin seized which weighed in at just less than 4 tonnes and a 17% rise in the amount of tablet drugs such as ecstasy being seized (Crime Reduction, Home Office Statistics). These statistics can again mean more than the obvious. On one hand, it could mean that there was a significant rise in the amount of drugs being used in the UK between 2000 and 2001. This would probably be the realistic theory. However, it could also mean that policing the drug market has become more efficient and drug teams around the country are working harder to seize more drugs than before.

As well as drug related crimes under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as mentioned above, there are the more ‘commercialised’ and ‘newsworthy’ crimes which are related to drugs which involve a more physical crime as opposed to simply being in possession of an illegal drug.

Many people think that the link between crime and drugs is the crimes committed in order to further fund a drug addiction and so label drug related crimes to those crimes which are committed by dependant drug users such as burglary, theft or shoplifting. However, this is not always the case and there are further links which relate crime to drugs and show a causal link. It is difficult to single out any link or theory to show the link between crime and drugs, although it is obvious that a causal link does exist, it is not possible to narrow it down into one theory. There is debate about what crimes constitute ‘drug related’ crimes.

When discussing the relationship between crime and drugs, two or more theories can be presented. As Maguire et al recognise, usually there tends to be a following of one of 2 possible theories. One of these theories is that ‘criminal lifestyles may facilitate involvement with drugs’ (Maguire et al 2002). This implies that those who commit crimes are not already drug users, but start using drugs as a result of their criminal lifestyle. The other side of the argument is that ‘dependence on drugs then loads to criminal activity to pay for further drug use’ (Maguire et al 2002). This theory implies that drug users commit crime as a result of their drug use and, as mentioned previously, to further their drug addiction.

Maguire et al state that drug related crime is generally non-violent crime and describe it as acquisitive crime which involves theft, shop-lifting, burglary or prostitution. On the other hand, more violent crime, as is more common in the USA is being seen in the UK which is also related to drugs. Violent crime such as murders, shootings, stabbings are becoming increasingly more common in parts of the UK. Another large scale crime linked to drugs is money-laundering. In 1996, Hough researched that ‘the costs sustained by victims of drug related crime are substantial: crimes committed by dependant heroin users alone may involve losses of between £58 million and £864 million annually (Maguire et al, 2002). In the same year, Parker and Bottomley claimed that crack-cocaine users spend up to £20,000 per year to gain access to crack-cocaine, and that addicted heroin users spend up to £10,000 per year on their addiction (Maguire et al, 2002).

There are many studies which support the above mentioned theory that ‘criminal lifestyles may facilitate the involvement with drugs’. Maguire et al state that there are studies which provide evidence that serious drug mis-users are already involved in delinquent or criminal activities before they started using the drugs. Maguire et al state that there are 3 arguments for this side of the theory. They are 1) involvement in deviant/criminal-oriented subcultures or groups would be likely to lead a person to encounter the availability of drugs sold within that culture; 2) they would have a deviant lifestyle which would accommodate deviant drug use and 3) while money from criminal activities might pay for drugs, it was not drug use which led to the criminal activity.

In my opinion, this could be a valid and true assumption that drug use is facilitated from criminal activity and not that criminal activity is carried out as a result of drug use. It is my belief that a group of delinquents who commit some petty-crimes such as theft or burglary would have cash available to them and with the easily availability of some drugs, especially alcohol in particular, the money ‘earned’ from crimes would be used to buy alcohol or other drugs, just because they have the extra money to do so.

On the other hand, the second theory which Maguire et al pointed out also has its own arguments which support it and there is evidence which suggests that it is actually this theory which is true. The idea that drug use causes crime is based upon the belief of a causal link and relationship between drugs use and crime. A study which strongly supports this theory was carried out in 1898 by Jarvis and Parker where they found that criminal convictions of one group of heroin users doubled soon after they started using heroin on a more regular basis and this study therefore concluded that ‘addiction leads to acquisitive crime’. (Maguire et al, 2002)

As is seen, there are strong arguments for both of these theories. It is difficult to conclude which is more applicable than the other and it is for this reason that many studies of this topic have remained inconclusive. Maguire et al say that the ‘resolution of this debate’ is to agree with Nurco et al who in 1985 said that ‘the long and continuing controversy over whether narcotic addicts commit more crimes primarily to support their habits or whether addiction is merely one more manifestation of a deviant and criminal life-style seems pointless in view of the fact that addicts cannot be regarded as a homogenous group’. I believe that it would be sensible to agree with this view of Nurco et al as different drug users use drugs for different reasons and do not all engage in criminal activity in order to gain access to drugs and so there would not always be a causal link or relationship between drug use and crime.

So far, I have been concentrating on illegal drugs such as heroin, crack-cocaine and cannabis, however as mentioned before it is all too easy to dismiss the effects of the most popular legal drug, alcohol. Being the most easily available drug, the effects of alcohol are seen more than that of illegal drugs, however the commonness of alcohol-related crime has meant that it is sometimes not given the attention it deserves. Research shows that alcohol is a factor in criminal behaviour. Alcohol Concern, the national agency on alcohol misuse which works to reduce the level of alcohol misuse, found that 63% of male prisoners and 39% of female prisoners had engaged in hazardous drinking prior to imprisonment.

As mentioned above, where Maguire et al describe drug related crime as non-violent and acquisitive, alcohol related crime is usually violent crime as the person under the influence of alcohol usually is out of control and not thinking ‘straight’. Alcohol Concern found studies which show that as alcohol consumption increases, so does violent offending. This supports the view that drug use causes crime, although in this context the drug being alcohol.

I will now concentrate on crimes related to alcohol misuse rather than the illegal drugs mentioned before. This will show that crimes which are drug related are wider and not as ‘typical’ as one might expect from illegal drugs.

Maguire et al quote from Lombroso who said that “alcohol…is a cause of crime.” This straightforward and blunt statement was backed up by reasons and Lombroso went on to say that “first because many commit crime in order to obtain drinks”, which supports the view that drug users are already in a criminal lifestyle. Lombroso went on to say that “further, because men sometimes seek in drink the courage necessary to commit crime”. This point supports the opposite view that drug use causes crime.

As it can be seen, there is no single formula or theory which can be singled out but a mixture of factors which are different for different drugs and different people, which is what Nurco et al (1985) suggested.

A simple way of explaining the scale of the problem is to present some recent statistics. The level of alcohol related crime in the UK in 2003 was described as immense and it is estimated that alcohol related crime costs the UK government £7.3billion a year to pay for the policing, prevention and processing of offenders through the criminal justice system. Overall, the crimes resulting from alcohol abuse costs about £20billion a year (Alcohol Concern).

In 1999, according to Alcohol Concern, there were an estimated 1.2 million incidents of alcohol related violence, which amounts to approximately 23,000 a week. In terms of violent crime as a whole, 1 in 5 violent crimes take place in or around pubs and clubs, where it is very likely that the offenders will have been drinking heavily, especially on the weekends and evenings which is when 70% of the violent incidents take place. Also, almost half (47%) of victims in 2001/02 described their offender as being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crime. This supports Lombroso’s statement that alcohol is used to build up the courage to commit a crime. This is further supported by the fact that around 58% of people imprisoned for rape had been drinking in the six hours prior to the rape.

The above statistics give some idea that alcohol related crime is not all the same and that drinking and binge-drinking is associated with different types of crimes. As well as violent crime, alcohol related crime accounts for crimes such as criminal damage and sexual offences.

Until now, it has been discussed how the effects of drugs, both legal and illegal, lead users to criminal activities or how criminal activities lead to criminals using drugs. However, Alcohol Concern identify some other ‘factors’ which have a strong influence in the relationship between crime and drugs and prove that it is not drugs on their own which cause the after-effects of their use.

For example, factors such as family history are taken into account. Children who have grown up seeing their parents behaving violently after drinking are more likely to become violent and aggressive themselves. Childhood disorders are another factor which is considered, such as psychiatric disorders and attention deficit disorders. Such disorders place children at a greater risk of aggression or substance misuse when older (Alcohol Concern). Another simple factor to be taken into account is the personality of the individual. An aggressive person by personality is more likely to be more aggressive when under the influence of alcohol. Another important factor is the individual’s lifestyle. If they have grown up in a certain way where seeing violence is a ‘normal’ thing, they may see it as a ‘norm’ to be violent and therefore be violent themselves.

Other environmental factors should also be considered such as the context in which people use alcohol. It is more likely for a violent attack to be carried out while drunk at a pub or a club rather than if a person is drunk in his own home. The environment in which a person is in a pub or a club gives them the opportunity to be violent with other alcohol users.

As we can gather, alcohol related crime is not a new thing and there is plenty more of it than can be analysed in this one project. The UK government have recognised that seeing as alcohol related crime accounts for the single largest area of government spending (Alcohol Concern), many forms of legislation have been enacted to help prevent or deter the crimes, or to help prosecute those who do offend. For example, the most recent legislation which deals with alcohol related crimes is the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 which allows an ‘on-the-spot’ penalty for being drunk in a public place, which is contrary to the Licensing Act of 1872, or for attempting to buy alcohol by a person under 18 years. The Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 made it an offence to sell alcohol to those under the age of 18 and the consumption of alcohol by those under 18 years old also became an offence. In my opinion, a possible rise in the number of alcohol related crimes is due to the many legislation being passed. For example, under the Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000, if alcohol is sold to a person less than 18 years of age, an alcohol-related crime has been committed. Other measures which have been used to try and control the alcohol related problems include pub and club ‘watch’ schemes which target known troublemakers and ban them from pubs and clubs to avoid any troublesome behaviour, experienced security and door staff to intervene if any violent behaviour kicks off, using special plastic bottles to prevent them being used as weapons and the installation of CCTV around the possible ‘danger’ venues.

Although it is a growing problem, one must accept that when people have been on a night out drinking and are drunk, their state of mind is not that of them when they are sober and so they are more likely to do something which is not normal for them to do, such as a violent attack or committing criminal damage. The only measure which can help reduce these acts is to have more police on the streets or near venues such as pubs, clubs and bars. However, this is easier said than done as the UK is already spending £7.3billion on policing for alcohol related crimes.

To conclude this project on drug related crime, I will say that we have learnt about the history of drug use and how it has changed from being a certain group of people from the early 1950s using drugs, to a more socially accepted norm today where drug use is a common reality and users ranging from young teenagers to older, middle-aged people. It has also become more socially acceptable for women to drink and use drugs nowadays, which may have helped in the increase of a drug-culture in the UK, in my opinion probably the biggest drug culture in the world amongst young people aged 18-24. We have seen how illegal drugs are used and the effects they have on people and also the crimes associated with legal drugs, the most popular being alcohol. However, regarding the different theories brought up by Maguire et al, it is almost impossible to decide which is more applicable. On one hand, it can be strongly believed that the use of drugs such as cannabis, heroin and alcohol cause users to commit crime in order to fund their drug use, however on the other hand it can also be believed that a criminal lifestyle gives those involved more opportunity to use drugs.

There is no doubt that there is a definite link between drugs and crime, but it is just a matter which cannot be defined and as Nurco et al suggested, it is pointless to argue about the different theories as drug users are by no way a homogenous group.

Word Count (Excluding titles and footnotes): 4,650

Bibliography

Compact Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, Oxford University Press
BBC News – Health, ‘How drugs are classified’, Tuesday 23rd October 2001 ()
Maguire et al, The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Third Edition, Oxford University Press, 2002
ACMD, Reducing drug related deaths, London (1999)
Berridge, V. Opium and the people, rev. edn, London (1999)
Crime Reduction Toolkit – Communities Against Drugs, Crimes of supply and possession from http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/100years.xls referenced from
Hough, M. (1996), Drugs Misuse and the Criminal Justice System: A Review of the Literature, London: Home Office, Drugs Prevention Initiative
Parker, H., Bottomley, T. (1996) Crack Cocaine and Drugs-crime Careers, R and SD Paper 34, London: Home Office
Jarvis, G., and Parker, H. (1989) ‘Young Heroin users and Crime’, British Journal of Criminology, 29: 175-85
Nurco, D., Ball, J., Shaffer, J., and Hanlon, T. (1985), ‘The Criminality of Narcotic Addicts’, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 173/2: 94-102
Singleton, N., Farrell, and Meltzer, H. (1999) Substance misuse among prisoners in England and Wales, Office for National Statistics, London
Norstrom, T. (1998) Effects on criminal behaviour of different beverage types and private and public drinking, Addiction, 93, pp689-699 in McMurran, M. (2002) Alcohol and Crime: A paper for the alcohol concern research forum (www. Alcoholconern.org.uk/doc/618)
Lombroso, C. (1968), Crime: Its causes and Remedies, Montclair, NJ.: Patterson Smith, originally published 1911

Suraj Sodha Criminology

Compact Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, Oxford University Press

BBC News – Health, ‘How drugs are classified’, Tuesday 23rd October 2001 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1615851.stm)

Maguire et al, The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Third Edition, Oxford University Press, 2002

As opposed to a salary of a non-graduate

ACMD, Reducing drug related deaths, London (1999)

Berridge, V. Opium and the people, rev. edn, London (1999)

Crime Reduction Toolkit – Communities Against Drugs, Crimes of supply and possession from http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/100years.xls referenced from www.crimereduction.gov.uk

Hough, M. (1996), Drugs Misuse and the Criminal Justice System: A Review of the Literature, London: Home Office, Drugs Prevention Initiative

Parker, H., Bottomley, T. (1996) Crack Cocaine and Drugs-crime Careers, R and SD Paper 34, London: Home Office

Jarvis, G., and Parker, H. (1989) ‘Young Heroin users and Crime’, British Journal of Criminology, 29: 175-85

Nurco, D., Ball, J., Shaffer, J., and Hanlon, T. (1985), ‘The Criminality of Narcotic Addicts’, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 173/2: 94-102

Alcohol Concern –

Singleton, N., Farrell, and Meltzer, H. (1999) Substance misuse among prisoners in England and Wales, Office for National Statistics, London

Norstrom, T. (1998) Effects on criminal behaviour of different beverage types and private and public drinking, Addiction, 93, pp689-699 in McMurran, M. (2002) Alcohol and Crime: A paper for the alcohol concern research forum (www. Alcoholconern.org.uk/doc/618)

Lombroso, C. (1968), Crime: Its causes and Remedies, Montclair, NJ.: Patterson Smith, originally published 1911