Hammersley R, Forsyth A, Lavelle T
Behavioural Sciences Group, University of Glasgow, UK.
Br J Addict. 1990 Dec;85(12):1583-94. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1990.tb01646.x.
The drug use and crime of 210 teenage licit and illicit drug users were examined. Over 90% of the sample, including non-users, soft drug users, opioid users and injectors, were obtained via the same 'snowball' of friends and acquaintances. None had been injecting for more than 2 years. It was found that the frequency of use of all licit and illict drugs and the frequency of all crimes were intercorrelated. However, even many of the opioid injectors in this sample were not near-daily users and 'addiction' did not explain the results of regression equations predicting crime and drug use; crime explained drug use more than drug use explained crime and drug use was not a major unique predictor of theft. The criminal drug-using teenagers in this sample were better regarded as 'delinquents' than as 'drug-abusers' or 'drug addicts'. Delinquent behaviour of all kinds appeared to be increased by prior criminal experience, having delinquent friends and lack of conventional social support (notably including having spent time in care). Implications of these findings for theories of delinquency and the practice of treatment and prevention are discussed.
对210名青少年合法及非法药物使用者的吸毒情况和犯罪行为进行了调查。样本中超过90%的人，包括非使用者、软性毒品使用者、阿片类药物使用者和注射者，都是通过朋友和熟人的同一个“滚雪球”方式找到的。没有人注射毒品超过两年。研究发现，所有合法和非法药物的使用频率与所有犯罪行为的频率之间存在相互关联。然而，即使在这个样本中的许多阿片类药物注射者也并非几乎每天都使用毒品，而且“成瘾”并不能解释预测犯罪和吸毒的回归方程结果；犯罪对吸毒的解释力超过吸毒对犯罪的解释力，而且吸毒并非盗窃行为的主要独特预测因素。与“药物滥用者”或“吸毒成瘾者”相比，这个样本中的犯罪吸毒青少年更应被视为“少年犯”。各类犯罪行为似乎都因先前的犯罪经历、有犯罪的朋友以及缺乏传统社会支持（尤其是包括曾在福利院生活过）而增加。讨论了这些发现对犯罪理论以及治疗和预防实践的影响。
