Within both the Australian and international literature, the association between substance use and criminal activity is well established. The nature of the relationship, however, is still widely debated with no overall consensus being reached on how crime and substance use influence each other. The evidence linking cannabis to crime is no exception to this debate.
Among those who come into contact with the criminal justice system in Australia, cannabis remains the most widely used and most commonly detected. Young offenders who go on to spend time in custody, in particular, are continuing to use cannabis at very high rates despite an overall decline in use among the general population of the same age.
Despite the acknowledged association between substance use and offending, little research has focused specifically on the role of social factors, situations and the environment on first cannabis use, first involvement in crime and the initial and on-going relationship between the two. This study therefore aims to explore further the complex relationship between cannabis use and offending through the use of the three smaller studies: a secondary analysis of DUMA data collected between 2006 and 2010, a prospective follow-up study of 300 young people with varying levels of involvement with the criminal justice system and a qualitative study with 20 young people with a history of regular cannabis use and involvement in the criminal justice system.
This study aims to further understand the complex relationship between substance use and criminal offending, focusing specifically on cannabis use and crime among adolescents. A primary aim of the study is to examine the social factors and situations that contribute to first cannabis use and first involvement in crime and how the two relate.
The project is comprised of three smaller studies:
- Secondary analysis of DUMA data to compare differences in the prevalence, trends and patterns of substance use and criminal offending among cannabis-using adult and adolescent police detainees
- Prospective follow-up study of 300 young people who report varying levels of involvement with the criminal justice system in NSW
- In-depth qualitative study of 20-30 young people who report a history of contact with the criminal justice system and cannabis use.
A total of 302 baseline and 134 follow-up interviews were collected. An additional fifteen qualitative interviews were conducted with a total of 20 participants. Results from study 1 showed younger participants were more likely to have recently used cannabis, initiated at a younger age and to have recently received more criminal charges. A mental health diagnosis was a significant predictor of recent charges among detainees whose past year illicit drug use was limited to cannabis-only. Results from the second study showed that use of cannabis prior to involvement in crime was found to influence the speed of progression from first to regular offending. In the final study, the immediate social environment was found to play a strong role in the initiation, acceptance and normalisation of cannabis use and offending.
Thesis
Simpson, M. (2013) Caught red-eyed and red-handed: an exploration of cannabis use and criminal offending, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales.
Reports
Simpson, M., Howard, J., Copeland, J., Arcuri, A. (2009) The need to monitor and reduce cannabis use among young offenders, NCPIC Bulletin No. 5, Sydney: National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre.
Conferences
Simpson, M., Copeland, J., & Howard, J. (2009) Criminal offending and poly-substance use patterns among experimental and regular cannabis-using youth, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Conference: Crime and Justice Challenges in the 21st Century: Victims, Offenders and Communities, Perth 22-25th November 2009.
Simpson, M., Howard, J., & Copeland, J. (2009) Familial substance use and offending among a sample of at-risk youth, Poster presented at the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law Conference: Families in Law: Investigation, Intervention and Protection, Fremantle 26-29th November.
Simpson, M., Copeland, J., & Howard, J. (2009) Context and motivations for cannabis use initiation among young people who commit crime, Poster presented at The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre Annual Symposium, Sydney 28th September.
Simpson, M., Copeland, J., & Howard, J. (2009) Context and motivations for cannabis use initiation among young people who commit crime, Poster presented at The 1st National Cannabis Conference, Sydney 7-8th September.
Simpson, M., Howard, J., & Copeland, J. (2010) The social context of cannabis initiation among a sample of criminally involved youth, The 2nd International Congress of the European Association for Forensic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychology and Other Involved Professions, Basel, Switzerland 7-10th September.
Simpson, M., Copeland, J., & Howard, J. (2010) Comparing cannabis and crime initiation among current cannabis-using young offenders: Early Findings, Australian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs, Canberra, 28th November – 1st December.
Simpson, M., Howard, J., & Copeland, J. (2011) Cannabis, a ‘soft drug’ with hard outcomes? Cannabis use, mental health and crime among young people in Australia. 32nd International Conference on Law and Mental Health, Berlin, 17th – 23rd July.
Simpson, M., Howard, J., & Copeland, J. (2012) Cannabis and criminal offending in young people. Paper for NDARC Annual Symposium, Sydney, 28 August.
Findings of these studies will prove useful in the development of targeted intervention programs, particularly among individuals whose immediate social environment place them at increased risk for early involvement in cannabis use and crime.