The Relationship between Substance Abuse and Crime among Prisoners

This review examines the relationship between substance use and crime, analyzing changes in individuals over time, impact on different types of crimes and substances, and prisoner perspectives. The study finds that substance use is linked to increased levels of peaceful crimes, driven by the need to acquire drugs. Prisoners participating in the research admitted to their substance abuse addiction being a reason for committing crimes or re-offending while on probation or parole. Over 90% of participants believe that if there were better programs in place, they would be less likely to commit crimes and re-offend upon release.

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Substance Abuse and Crime
Substance Abuse and Crime
Southern New Hampshire University

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Substance Abuse and Crime
Abstract
This review examined the occurrence of substance abuse and criminal behaviour
among the adult prisoners inside subjects over an 11-month time frame unending drug
utilizing guilty parties. For this specimen, expanded substance utilize—cocaine or heroin use
and also liquor use—was altogether identified with increments in self-reports of wage
creating crime.
The abuse of substances does not stop once an individual is caught and punished by
imprisonment through this study it will show that the correlation between substance abuse
and crime continues even well the criminals are in prison. Substance abuse is a disease that
has plagued America for so long and along with it has become crimes of different levels.
Addicts will prostitute themselves and other, they will, steal kill and destroy their own people
a, neighbourhoods and community just to chase the next high. It has been shown through the
recidivism rates of substance abusers who are imprisoned in the United States, who will come
to jail and receive another charge for possessing or selling drugs or alcohol in prison.

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Substance Abuse and Crime
Introduction
Substance abuse and crime are two of the most obstinate social issues confronting the
United States. The connection amongst drugs and crime has been a point of supported
enthusiasm to researchers and strategy producers alike, as is confirmed by an extensive
volume of literature. Here we discuss the relationship between the substance abuse and crime
in respect to prisoner’s perception and experience (Maynard et al., 2015). Once there is a
focus placed on the addictions of these prisoners in assuring that they are free of the
imprisonment of the substance that they abuse then his or her crimes will also diminish with
it. Once these individuals are no longer dependent on their substance of choice they will have
no reasons to commit the crimes to feed those addictions that no longer exist. If the
correctional system or the criminal justice system does not put more emphasis on complete
rehabilitation programs inside and outside of jail for these addicts the levels of crimes in
neighbourhoods in which these individuals live will continue to rise.
A substance abuser will find a way to get high incarcerated or free this is the
correlation that continues to give jails and prison these revolving doors for these individuals
that are not being treated for their addictions but merely punished for their crimes with little
to none rehabilitation for the true problem and reason for them being incarcerated.

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Substance Abuse and Crime
Method
Methodology:
The information for this review is collected by the descriptive, cross-sectional and
random survey among the adults, men and women prisoners. There are direct interviews
conducted by impartial volunteers to assure there is no bias within the collection of
information collected from the prisoners. A direct interview was taken from those prisoners
by maintaining appropriate time and at a specific place within prison system where there
would be no distractions or influences from other prisoners. These random surveys took place
in prisons within the United States with over 11 months of study collected. This whole
experiment was designed for providing a clear and concise picture of the perceptions,
experiences, and characteristics of prisoners in respect to substance abuse and crime (Lucia,
2012). It is important to understand the statistics at the correctional institutional level in an
effort to produce overall statistics for the state on substance abuse and crime.
Research Participants:
Information utilized as a part of this review come principally from meetings with the
review members around three years after they were arbitrarily doled out to conditions.
Interviews were directed in a private range, either in the workplaces of the Division of Parole
and Probation, in prison or jail, or in a group area (Lucia, 2012 and Gottfredson et al., 2008).
There are a mix of male and female prisoners ranging in ages from 21 years of age to 45
years old. All participants are aware of their rights in participation with this research program
and everyone has agreed to the terms and conditions. The research participants are not under
the influence and agree to answer all questions truthfully without any repercussions from the
parole board, prison or jail that he or she may currently be apart of.

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Substance Abuse and Crime
Data Collection/Instrumentation:
This review utilizes month to month measures of (a) criminal movement broken out
by kind of wrongdoing, (b) substance utilize broken out by sort of substance, and (c)
medicate treatment. These measures originated from subject self-report gotten in the meetings
portrayed before. The substance utilizes and wrongdoing measures were gathered utilizing a
month to month schedule in which the subjects assessed for every month the recurrence of
every conduct.
In our investigations, we analyze regardless of whether the subject detailed utilizing liquor
and regardless of whether the subject announced utilizing cocaine or heroin amid each month
(Anglin et al., 1998).
Protection of Participants:
Study participants were interviewed in a private place. Potential study participants
were guaranteed that their names would not be recorded and that their reactions would be
kept entirely classified. Participants were paid fifty dollars for their support, to insure they
provide truthful and reliable information during the surveys. All field questioners consented
to a privacy arrangement, and the systems and insurances were painstakingly disclosed to
potential members in the educated assent convention (Lucia, 2012). Making sure that the
field surveyors took precaution in making sure that all information was properly gathered
from participants and the participants private information was handled with care and
confidently without sharing answers or going through the participants answers to the survey
questions.

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Substance Abuse and Crime
Statistical Analysis:
Two essential methodologies are accessible for estimation of board models with
controls for in secret heterogeneity: irregular impact and settled impact models.
The fundamental distinction between the two methodologies is that the settled impact
estimator depends just on upon individual variety to recognize the gauge. This has instinctive
interest since it utilizes every individual as his or her own particular control and concentrates
on the relationship between adjustment in the reliant and autonomous variable (Banks et al.,
2003 and Gottfredson et al., 2008). Since our reliable factors for crime and substance utilize
are dichotomous, we utilize a conditional logit system analysis. This system allows
participants to give his or her answers to the given questions without feeling pressure to
provide a “right or wrong answer.”

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Substance Abuse and Crime
Results and Discussion
Around 78% of the example is male, and 91% is African American. The mean
number of captures before randomization into the review for the example is 11.9, and the
mean number of earlier feelings is 4.8.
Month 1 is rejected from the examination since we utilized slacked factors. Thirty-nine
percent of the subjects confessed to utilizing liquor in the normal month, while 34%
confessed to utilizing cocaine or heroin. 20% of the subjects revealed a pay producing
wrongdoing and 4% a rough wrongdoing in the normal month. Subjects burned through 7.9
days in prison or jail in the normal month. The extents demonstrate much changeability over
the 10 months incorporated into the examination (Gottfredson et al., 2008).
We anticipated that cocaine or heroin utilize would build pay producing wrongdoing (IGC)
more than different sorts of wrongdoing and that liquor utilize would increment brutal
wrongdoing (VC) more than different sorts of wrongdoing. The study result is because of
fixed effect logit regression models relating IGC and VC to each of the two-slacked
substance utilize sham factors (cocaine/heroin utilize and liquor utilize) halfway bolstered
this hypothesis.9 The coefficient for slacked cocaine/heroin utilize is 2.03 for IGC and 1.40
for VC and is altogether not quite the same as zero just for IGC. The chances proportion in
the IGC condition is bigger than in the VC condition (OR=7.61 versus 4.04). The likelihood
of taking part in an IGC is 18.4% in a month amid which the individual does not utilize
heroin or cocaine in the earlier month, however, 63.1% in a month amid which the individual
uses heroin or cocaine in the past month (Collins, 1993).

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Substance Abuse and Crime
The coefficient for slacked days of liquor utilize is 2.35 for IGC and 1.53 for VC and is
essentially unique in relation to zero just for IGC. Likewise with cocaine/heroin utilize, the
chances proportion in the IGC condition is bigger than in the VC condition (OR=10.45 versus
4.62). The likelihood of participating in an IGC is 16.1% in a month amid which the
individual does not utilize liquor in the earlier month, but rather 66.7% in a month amid
which the individual used liquor in the past month (Collins, 1993).
A great majority of the participants felt that there was several different factors that
contributed to the re-use of their substance upon release from prison. There are also
participants who felt the need to continue his or her substance abuse while incarcerated,
because they were scared of the possible effects from withdraw that may have been hard to
control or deal with. Many of the participants felt that if they were not able to commit the
crimes such as robbery, theft, burglary and fraud they would not be able to afford their
addiction, and being able to afford and purchase their substance of choice is one of the main
factors in why he or she feels the need to commit their given crimes.

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Substance Abuse and Crime
Conclusion
This review adds to the information concerning the relationship between substance
utilize and wrongdoing by demonstrating change inside subjects after some time, looking at
impacts for changed sorts of violations and substances.
The review finds that substance utilize is identified with expanded levels of wrongdoing. In
particular, the utilization of liquor and the utilization of cocaine or heroin are identified with
increments in IGC wrongdoing. None of the impacts of substance use on VC are measurably
huge; however, the sizes of the coefficients recommend a littler impact of each sort of
substance use on VC. The lower control accessible in the VC conditions makes these littler
impacts hard to distinguish. We infer that the prevalent impact of substance use on crime is to
increment peaceful violations, well on the way to create cash to buy drugs (Gottfredson et al.,
2008).

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Substance Abuse and Crime
The prisoners have had direct correlations with his or her substance abuse and their crimes.
The likelihood that a prisoner would reoffend would widely depend on his or her re-use of
their chosen substance to abuse whether it be alcohol, heroin, or cocaine. The prisoners that
participated in this research project have used at least once while incarcerated and have
admitted to his or her substance abuse addiction being the reason that they committed their
crime or the reason on which they re-offended while on probation or parole.
Over 90% of the participants believe that if there were better efforts and programs in prison
or jail, and within the rehabilitation programs that probation and parole require them to
participate in that the need to commit crimes or re-offend would lessen. The vast majority of
participants believe that if he or she was able to diminish their substance abuse habit they
would have a better success rate when released. Granted, the need for job placement is also a
key factor and assisting the participants in full rehabilitation and assure they do not commit
crimes moving forward.
The research report done on substance abuse and crime within the correctional
facilities and with the participating prisoners was successful and I believe that a wealth of
knowledge and statistics of these participants and facilities are going to be key in having a
better understanding on the factors that lead to crime in and outside of prison/ jails amongst
substance abusers. This information will also give program directors for prison programs and
rehabilitation programs an insight onto what will lead more useful results to implement in
their given programs.

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Substance Abuse and Crime
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