Drugs and crime : a study of incarcerated female offenders

Holly Johnson
ISBN 0 642 53861 1 ; ISSN 1326-6004
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology: 2004
(Research and public policy series, no. 63)

Executive summary

The Australian Institute of Criminology is undertaking research on the drug use careers of adult males, females and juveniles incarcerated in Australian prisons. The results of the Drug Use Careers of Offenders (DUCO) male study were released in 2003 and the results of the DUCO juvenile study are expected in 2005. The primary focus of this report is on the drug and alcohol use and criminal careers of 470 women who were incarcerated in prisons in six jurisdictions in Australia in 2003. Overall, these women tended to have extensive criminal histories and prior contacts with the criminal justice system. The majority also reported chronic and persistent drug use. A better understanding of patterns in offending and drug use, and the connection between the two, will assist in the development of interventions and crime prevention strategies for women.

Overall, the profile of the women interviewed for this study is similar to the prison population of the six jurisdictions in the study as recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 2004b). Incarcerated women tend to be younger and to have lower levels of education than the general population, and Indigenous women are over-represented, accounting for more than one-quarter of the women interviewed.

History of offending

Offenders were involved in a range of offences across their criminal careers. For example:

• three-quarters considered themselves to be 'regular' offenders;
• half were regular property offenders, 62 per cent were regular drug sellers or buyers, 13 per cent were regular sex workers, and one in 10 were regular violent offenders; and
• the majority were involved in multiple property crimes and drug offences.

Drug use

The women interviewed for this study also reported substantial involvement with a variety of illicit drugs. Almost two-thirds were regular illegal drug users in the six months prior to arrest and 39 per cent were using more than one type of drug. In terms of drug type:

• 40 per cent used cannabis;
• 37 per cent illegally used amphetamines;
• 27 per cent used heroin;
• 15 per cent illegally used benzodiazepines; and
• six per cent used cocaine.

Non-Indigenous women were more likely than Indigenous women to be regular users of drugs other than cannabis, and more likely to be polydrug users. Indigenous women, on the other hand, had higher levels of alcohol and cannabis use. Comparisons with the DUCO male study highlight important differences in the drug use histories of incarcerated men and women. For example:

• women tend more often to be high on drugs at the time of the offence and less likely to be under the influence of alcohol (with the exception of Indigenous women); and
• amphetamine use and escalation to regular use of amphetamines and heroin were higher for women than for men.

Links between drugs and crime

The results of this study provide evidence of a connection between drug and alcohol use and criminal offending. For example:

• 42 per cent of offenders were under the influence of drugs and 27 per cent were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the offence;
• half of property offenders attributed their crimes to the need to obtain money to buy drugs, a percentage that increased to 87 per cent for women whose preferred drug was heroin;
• 44 per cent of women whose main current offences were burglary or theft and 29 per cent of those who were incarcerated for robbery were under the influence of heroin at the time of the offence. Amphetamines were used at the time of the offence by 35 per cent of women incarcerated for robbery or driving offences, and 30 per cent of those whose main offence was burglary or theft;
• property offenders were more likely than violent offenders to be actively involved in the drug market in the form of buying or selling drugs;
• 55 per cent of the women interviewed met the criteria for drug dependency and 27 per cent for alcohol dependency;
• alcohol dependency among Indigenous women was three times higher than for non-Indigenous women (54% compared to 17%), while dependency on illicit drugs was somewhat higher among non-Indigenous women (57% compared to 48% of Indigenous women).

While the precise link between drug and alcohol abuse and criminal offending is not known, drug use exacerbates criminal offending. This study finds that persistent offenders tend to have begun experimenting with illegal drugs at an earlier age than non-persistent offenders, and they have higher rates of drug dependency. Drug-dependent women were also more likely to be regular offenders and had a significantly higher frequency of property offending. A number of offenders attribute their criminal offending directly to their use of drugs and alcohol. This study uses a conservative measure of causation, which includes a combination of addiction or intoxication at the time of the current offence, for offenders who stated that the reason they committed the offence was related to drugs or alcohol. In total, 41 per cent of offenders causally attributed their offending to their drug and alcohol abuse: 31 per cent to illegal drugs, nine per cent to alcohol and one per cent to both. Indigenous offenders were almost equally likely to causally attribute their criminal offending to alcohol (24%) or drugs (21%) while non-Indigenous women attributed their offending primarily to illegal drugs. In comparison with men interviewed for the DUCO male study, higher proportions of women in this study attributed their offending to their illegal drug use.

Temporal order of drug use and offending

Whether drug use 'leads' to crime or the reverse has been the subject of debate. Much of the research focusing on male offenders has found that criminal activity tends to precede drug use, but that offending, in particular property crime, escalates as drug use increases. Somewhat different results were found for women in this study. One-third of all drug-using women interviewed for this study began offending prior to any drug use, and two-thirds had used illegal drugs prior to or within the same year as their first offence. This suggests that, for a substantial portion of female offenders, drug use plays a role in shaping onset into a criminal career. Women involved in the sex trade, for example, tended to begin sex work after becoming regular users of amphetamines and heroin.

Risk factors for drug use and offending

This study offers many opportunities to examine a range of risk factors for drug and alcohol abuse and offending. Results show that:

• 87 per cent of incarcerated women were victims of sexual, physical or emotional abuse in either childhood (63%) or adulthood (78%). The majority were victims of multiple forms of abuse;
• childhood and adult abuse were correlated with drug dependency and involvement in the sex trade;
• physical abuse in childhood was a predictor of violent offending;
• mental health problems were correlated with drug dependency, violent offending and involvement in the sex trade;
• a small proportion of offenders had spent time in juvenile detention (17%) and this indicator of early onset of serious offending was related to drug dependency and regular property and violent offending as adults;
• drug-dependent women and persistent property offending were more likely to have grown up in families with drug problems;
• women with alcohol and drug dependencies, and those who were violent offenders, were more likely to have grown up in families with alcohol problems; and
• users of prescription drugs were between two and four times as likely as other women to also use illegal drugs.

Policy implications

Strong interconnections were found among these life experiences, including victimisation, mental health problems, drug and alcohol abuse among family members, use of prescription drugs, and drug dependency at the time of arrest. All are important correlates of criminal offending and all are highly interrelated. These results highlight the importance of interventions for women offenders in four main areas:

• whole-of-government approaches and inter-agency cooperation to ensure that the range of factors that can lead to drug use and offending are addressed;
• the prevention of drug dependency through rapid intervention with drug users and effective drug treatment programs;
• early interventions with families and children of high-risk women in order to help avert intergenerational drug abuse and offending; and
• programs targeted specifically to women and their personal histories and drug use patterns.

Interventions based on empirical evidence of patterns in women's offending and drug use histories could help divert novice drug users from becoming dependent, help avoid harms associated with drug dependency, and could help contribute to reducing criminal offending among high-risk women.

Limitations of the study

There are certain limitations to studies based on incarcerated offenders. The results cannot be generalised to all female offenders or illegal drug users, as unknown proportions never come to the attention of the police, and only a small percentage of those who are charged and convicted are sentenced to serve time in prison. Women who receive prison sentences are more likely to be chronic or repeat offenders with extensive criminal histories, vulnerable to detection by police because they are not in the legitimate labour market or are working or living on the street, or less skilled at the crimes they commit.

Accuracy of memory recall and willingness to report sensitive or private experiences are important considerations in self-report studies of this nature. Much of the information provided by participants is in relation to activities that may not have been detected by law enforcement agencies, or disclosed to anyone else prior to the interview, such as the extent of offending and illegal drug use, personal experiences of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, as well as mental health problems. Given the nature and content of this information, the DUCO project, like similar projects, is limited in the extent to which the self-reported information is reliable. In the field of criminology, research has shown that self-reported offending among prisoners is generally reliable, and that self-reported criminal histories are consistent with official records (Peterson, Braiker & Polich 1980). With respect to the accuracy of disclosures of illegal drug use, the DUMA project has established a high degree of consistency between drug use reported in interviews and the detection of drug use in urinanalysis tests (Milner, Mouzos & Makkai 2004).