Drug Histories and Criminality: Survey of Inmates of State Correctional Facilities, January 1974

Abstract

In January 1974, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, assisted by the Census Bureau, interviewed 10,400 inmates of state correctional facilities. Results from this survey were applicable to 191,400 inmates, which was the estimated population of all state correctional facilities at the time of the survey. Findings showed that an estimated 61% of the 191,400 inmates stated they had used drugs such as heroin, methadone, cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, or barbiturates at some point in their lives, without a doctor's prescription and outside of a treatment program. A greater percentage of inmates presently convicted of property crimes (61%) had ever used drugs than inmates convicted of violent crimes (56%)--a difference which becomes greater when inmates convicted of robbery are removed from the violent crime category, particularly since seven out of every 10 inmates presently convicted of robbery had ever used drugs. Around one out of every four inmates stated they were using drugs daily, or almost daily, at the time of any of their present offense(s) resulting in imprisonment. Around one in every three inmates presently convicted of robbery was using drugs daily at this time. Classifying inmates according to daily drug use at this time resulted in the finding that a significantly smaller proportion of inmates with daily drug use at this time were presently convicted of "violent crimes" (41%) than inmates with no drug use (57%). In this survey, inmates were asked if they were under the influence of any drugs at the time of any of the offense(s) causing their present imprisonment. Around one in four of all inmates responded affirmatively to this question. Inmates were asked if they had been drinking at the time of any of the offenses resulting in their being in prison at this time. Four out of every 10 stated they had. Taken together with other drugs, six out of every 10 inmates were either under the influence of drugs, or had been drinking, at the time of any of the offenses causing imprisonment now. When the population was asked about enrollment in drug treatment programs, responses were that only 4% of all inmates were enrolled at the time of any of the present offenses resulting in imprisonment, while around 9% had been enrolled in drug treatment prior to the time of their present offenses.

Substance abuse and dependence in prisoners: a systematic review

“…There were a number of other reasons for exclusion: (1) failure to include the whole prison population or a random sample of this population [34–36]; (2) reporting of retrospective substance use while in prison in post‐release prisoners [37,38]; (3) reporting estimates from only prisoners selected for assessment or treatment of substance dependence [39,40]; (4) reporting of combined results for men and women [10]; (5) reporting of combined estimates for alcohol and drug misuse [41,42]; (6) greater than 50% non‐participation [43]; (7) measuring solely injectable substance use [36,39,44]; and (8) lack of standardized criteria or unclear definitions regarding either substance abuse or dependence [35,45–65]. A group of studies examining the prevalence of drug dependence as part of the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring programme in the United States was excluded for this latter reason [13,14]; (9) one 1985 study that used diagnostic criteria according to the International Classification of Diseases, version 8 [66].…”

Recent research on the relationship between illicit drug use and crime

“…As in studies of known drug abusers, the use of arrest data to classify criminal justice subjects has obscured the relationship between illicit drug use and involvement in serious crime. Classifying subjects according to the arrest charge for the crime for which they were most recently incarcerated, Barton (1980Barton ( , 1982 reported that the prevalence of both lifetime and regular drug use was higher among property offenders than among violent offenders. The results of recent studies using other ways of classifying subjects, however, have challenged the view that arrested drug users are less violent than other arrestees.…”

Understanding the Drugs and Crime Connection: A Systematic Examination of Drugs and Crime Relationships

“…Barton's (1976) analysis of LEAA national prison survey data provides an important set of preliminary findings. Barton indicates that 61 percent of incarcerated offenders self-report some ill egal drug use activity and 13 percent claim to have used heroin at the time of the arrest leading to imprisonment.…”