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Narcotics Use, Property Crime, and Dealing - Structural Dynamics Across the Addiction Career

NCJ Number
104582
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1986) Pages: 355-375
Author(s)
M D Anglin; G Speckart
Date Published
1986
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Using a sample of male heroin addicts from methadone maintenance treatment programs in Southern California, this study used structural equation modeling to determine the nature and extent of causal influences operative among narcotics use, property crime, and drug trafficking across four critical time periods of the addiction career.
Abstract
A sample of 671 subjects were active in Southern California methadone maintenance programs in the 1970's. Data were obtained from official records and subject interviews. The time periods examined were the 1-year periods before and after first addiction, the year before and after first methadone maintenance treatment entry, the year before and after first methadone maintenance discharge, and the year before and after last daily use. The study used structural coefficients of longitudinal models to infer causal relationships and stability. Dealing was a predictor of future narcotics involvement; narcotics use, property crime, and dealing were mutually interrelated during periods of elevated narcotics use and were not related during periods of reduced narcotics use; dealing appeared to be the most stable of the three variables, although narcotics use and property crime showed appreciable stability as well; property crime and dealing were apparently inversely related to a moderate extent. 1 figure, 2 tables, and 74 references. (Author abstract modified)