Heroin Use, Crime and Employment Status

• Published date: 01 July 1988
• DOI: 10.1177/002204268801800311
• Author: Charles E. Faupel
• Date: 01 July 1988
• Subject Matter: Article

The

Journal

of Drug Issues, 18(3),467-479, 1988

HEROIN

USE,

CRIME

AND EMPLOYMENT STATUS

Charles

E.

Faupel

The impact

of

employment on addict criminality is

examined with data from interviews with 544 daily

heroin users in five American cities. Addict crimi-

nality is examined acrossemployment levels, occupa-

tional categories and crime types. The hypothesis

that increased employment level and occupational

status should inhibit criminal involvement vis a vis

increased legitimate income is only partially sup-

ported. These findings further suggest that both drug

use and criminal behavior are manifestations

of

a

broader social involvement in the subculture

of

drug

use. Likewise, employment represents more than

simply asource

of

income, but rather constitutes a

dynamic social feature

of

the subculture which may

impact on criminality in various ways.

The criminal proclivities of heroin users have been the subject of a voluminous

literature. A 1980survey (Gandossey et aI., 1980) cites over 450 books,articles

and reports which directly or indirectly bear on the heroin-crime relationship.

Since 1980the study ofthis relationship has continued, and of particularnote are

some rather large-scale quantitative studies which further confirm the rela-

tionship between heroin use and crime (Anglin and Speckart, 1984; Ball et aI.,

1981

and 1983; Collins et al., 1984 and 1985;Johnson et aI.,

1985).

Findings such as

these are commonly understood to imply a causal relationship between expensive

drug use and criminal behavior. As physical dependence upon and tolerance for

heroin increase, and the cost ofheroin use increases proportionally, it is theorized

that

the addict is driven to criminal means to satisfy a growing habit.

Recent evidence,

however,

has suggested

that

the

drugs/crime nexus is more

complex

than

an economicallybased "drugs-cause-crime" hypothesis would imply.

Arecent study by Goldstein

(1985),

for example, identifies three possible linkages

between drug use and violent crime, consisting of the pharmacological effects of

drugs on behavior, economic demands imposed by expensive drugs, and the

Charles

E.

Faupella

an A.oslatant Professor with the Department of

SociolollY

at Auburn University, AL 36849. This

reaean:h WB8 supportedin

part

by DHEW

Grant

No.1 ROI DA01827 from the Division of Research, National Institute on

DruiAbuae.

CI

Journal of Drug Issues, Inc. 0022·04261881031487-479 $1.00

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