Criminal Psychology
Drug Abuse and Crime
May 28, 2009 | 
Author A new study sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy finds an association between drug abuse and criminal behavior. The Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program gathered information on drug abuse from adult male arrestees in 10 counties across the country. Denver county was one of those tested. Face-to-face interviews and urinalysis were conducted with the arrestees, whose participation was voluntary and confidential.
The study findings are as follows:
- Drug use among the arrestee population is much higher than in the general U.S. population. Over 50% of all arrestees tested positive for at least one drug. The percentage is higher for younger offenders (age 21 and under, 85%; age 36+ 68%).
- The most common drugs were marijuana, cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine in that order. The lone exception is Atlanta, where the most common drug is cocaine. The urinalysis did not differentiate between cocaine and crack.
- Cocaine use in Denver and Indianapolis has declined since 2007 while remaining stable in the rest of the country.
- Methamphetamine use varies by region. Less than 1% tested positive in the eastern states, slightly higher in the mid-west and highest on the west coast. Sacramento had 35%testing positive.
There is an association between criminal behavior and drug use, but what does it all mean? The association does not show cause and effect. Do criminals use drugs? Do drug users commit crimes? How do we correct these behaviors? The questions still remain. Perhaps future studies with show a cause and effect relationship and lead to a solution.
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Online Predators
There has been a lot of publicity about online predators recently. As a former criminal investigator or sex crimes against children, I was curious about the trend an decided to investigate. I’ve seen all of the promos for Dateline – To Catch a Predator, yet I cannot bring myself to watch it. I’ve lived it, I don’t need to watch it on TV, though many people do. However, I do want to understand the nature of the problem.
The University of New Hampshire has a Crimes Against Children Research Center that has published a report entitled Trends in Arrests of “Online Predators”. According to the results of this study, online predation is a problem… but not to the extent that Dateline would have you believe. “Arrests of online predators in 2006 constituted about 1% of all arrests for sex crimes committed against children and youth. That means 99% found another way to approach their victims. This is similar to the statistic that you are more likely to die in a car crash but the crash of an airliner gets the publicity.
Other key findings of the report are as follows:
- Between 2000 and 2006, there was a 21% increase in arrests of offenders who solicited actual youth and a 381% increase in arrests of offenders who solicited under cover investigators.
- As online predator arrests were increasing, overall sex offenses against children were in decline.
- There is no evidence that predators were stalking victims based upon information they posted on social networking sites.
The report concludes that law enforcement is having success in arresting online predators but it is premature to conclude that the internet is an unusually dangerous environment. Most crimes committed by online predators involved adolescent victims who knew they were communicating with older adults who wanted sex. Most victims went to the meetings expecting to engage in sexual activity and were victims because they were too young to consent to sexual activity with adults.
The possibility that Internet use facilitates sexual predation needs to be taken seriously, but it is not the problem that the media portrays. Law enforcement is doing a good job arresting predators and needs to continue that effort. However, parents need to understand that the internet is not more dangerous than other environments that their children encounter. My own experience, though some time ago, leads me to believe that abusive step-fathers, family friends, teachers, counselors, clergy and youth group leaders are a larger part of the problem. Parents need to pay attention to adults who gravitate to positions involving contact with children. Offenders are sociable people who work or volunteer in positions where they have contact with children and are able to choose their victims accordingly.