Mi SciELO
Servicios personalizadosServicios Personalizados
Revista
Articulo
texto en 
Inglés (pdf)
Articulo en XML
Referencias del artículo
Traducción automática
Enviar articulo por emailIndicadores
-
Citado por SciELO -
Accesos
Links relacionados
-
Citado por Google -
Similares en
SciELO -
Similares en Google
Compartir
Permalink
Acción Psicológica
versión On-line ISSN 2255-1271versión impresa ISSN 1578-908X
Acción psicol. vol.14 no.2 Madrid jul./dic. 2017 Epub 11-Sep-2023
https://dx.doi.org/10.5944/ap.14.2.20748
Artículos del monográfico
Substance abuse as a risk factor for criminal behavior: a systematic review
EXTENDED SUMMARY
Introduction
Several studies have linked crime with substance abuse variables in the past. For example, Montgomery, Thomson and Barczyk (2011) pointed out that individual factors like drugs or mental illnesses could explain about 40 % of crime variance (cases of crime). The direction of this suggested association between these variables is unclear and drug use could act either as a risk factor (e.g., Swahn & Donovan, 2004), a mediating factor (e.g., Miller et al., 2016) or a consequence of criminal activity. From this, it arises the need to review studies whose statistical analysis design focuses on checking whether substance use actually poses a risk in the occurrence of criminal behavior.
Worldwide data indicates that alcohol consumption is more than six liters per person (Organización Mundial de la Salud [OMS], 2014), and in Spain, the average age of onset of consumption dropped significantly (Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad, 2013). On the other hand, data on substance use in Europe indicates that the most prevalent substance is cannabis (Observatorio Europeo de las Drogas y las Toxicomanías [EMCDDA], 2016).
Knowing these data, although European crime statistics indicate a decrease (EUROSTAT, 2010), the number of delinquent children in Spain is more than 15000 (INE, 2014) and 59970 citizens are in prison (Secretaría General de Instituciones Penitenciarias, 2016). These worrying figures about early consumption and crime motivated us to research a possible association of risk further. Therefore, the purpose of our systematic review was to know the results of the latest papers that study the influence of the substance use variable on the development of criminal behavior, and therefore confirm if it is really a risk factor in the appearance of crime. Acknowledging the direction of this influence and the synthesis of the results of empirical studies of the last five years could be relevant for the development of crime prevention programs and the possible participation of substance use in its etiology.
Method
Procedure
The research procedure began on July 11, 2016 at four databases: Scopus, Medline, Psicodoc and PsycINFO. The selection of articles ended on July 27, 2016. The selection followed a hierarchical strategy consisting in selecting the papers after reading the title, abstract and keywords first, to check if they followed the Guidelines marked by the inclusion and exclusion of established criteria. The next step was to read the whole documents and review their quality through the STROBE statement –Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology– (Von Elm et al., 2008). Studies which did not present more than two quality criteria were discarded.
The search words used were adapted to the language that each database allowed and the results were screened according to: period of time, language and document type ("articles" and "reviews"). The terms used were:
«predictors OR epidemiology OR “risk factors” AND delinquency OR crime OR “criminal behavior” OR offense OR felony OR crim* OR delinq* AND drugs OR “substance abuse” OR “drug use” OR “substance use” OR alcohol OR cocaine OR cannabis OR heroin OR drug* AND “case control” OR cohort OR prospective OR longitudinal».
Inclusion criteria consists in: observational or quasi-experimental empirical studies published between 2010 and 2015; studies which evaluated causal relationships between the use of drugs, substances or alcohol, and crime and violent or criminal behavior; studies whose design allows the estimation of this factor as a risk or relative risk factor (longitudinal, case-control, retrospective, prospective, or cohort design, odds ratio analysis, relative risk analysis); studies whose designs or data analysis aimed to estimating relative risk, vulnerability or causality, based on the ideas and methods presented by Pita, Vila and Carpente (1997) regarding the estimation of risk; studies which have been published in English, Spanish or Portuguese; studies which have samples of population that have committed crimes or consumed drugs in the present or in the past and finally, studies whose data are both official and self-reported, because some papers such as Dubow, Huesmann, Boxer and Smith (2014) state that there is a moderate to high correspondence between the data collected through self-reports and the official data. We removed descriptive studies, studies related to the concept of recidivism and papers focused on a very specific population.
Results
The results were taken from twenty studies coming from Scopus, eight from Medline and four from PsycINFO. The information extracted from the studies was organized using a table which details the characteristics of the sample, the type of analysis and the main results of each study.
A 78 % of the empirical studies included in this review confirm that the consumption (or exposure) of some type of substance is a risk factor in the appearance of criminal behavior. From the 32 studies included in this review, 30 % focused on alcohol as a risk factor, 24 % on cannabis and the rest on drugs, other substances and poly-drug use. All but one of the articles referring to the consumption of alcohol find this substance as a risk factor for committing crimes. All papers focusing on cannabis use confirm that it is a risk factor for crime. Most of included studies had a longitudinal design.
Discussion
Overall, the results of the review articles indicate that severe substance disorder (Barrett Barrett, Teesson, & Mills, 2014; McKinlay, Corrigan, Horwood, & Fergusson, 2014; Pullmann, 2010) and poly-drug use increase the risk of criminal involvement (Marel et al., 2013).
Cannabis represents a risk for control and clinical populations (Brook, Lee, Finch & Brook, 2014). Specifically, it relates to crimes against property and drug offenses (Green, Doherty, Stuart, & Ensminger, 2010; Pedersen, & Skarhamar, 2010). However, Cannabis use is not a risk factor for violent crime because it is associated with a decrease in aggressive behavior (White, Fite, Pardini, Mun, & Loeber, 2013). Nevertheless, in clinical populations, this is the substance which is most related to violent behavior (Carabellese, Candelli, Martinelli, La Tegola, & Catanesi, 2013).
Studies that link alcohol consumption with the occurrence of criminal behavior indicate that it represents a risk factor for aggressive behavior (White et al., 2013), violent crime (Dietze et al., 2013; Maldonado-Molina, Reingle, & Jennings, 2011) and being arrested (Boden, Fergusson, & Hordwood, 2013; Green, Doherty, Zebrak, & Esminger, 2011; Jennings, Piquero, Rocque, & Farrington, 2015; Reingle, Jennings, Lynne-Landsman, Cottler, & Maldonado-Molina, 2013; Salom et al., 2014; Terranova et al., 2013). Other studies conclude that drinking alcohol and consuming marijuana (Reingle, Jennings, & Komro, 2013) is not a risk for ending up in jail. However, it should be noticed that not all of those who commit crimes go to prison. In addition, alcohol consumption has been shown to be highly implicated in impulsive offenses (Boden et al., 2013).
On the other hand, some studies indicate that prenatal exposure to cocaine in the first trimester is a risk factor for further development of criminal behavior (Lambert et al., 2013; Richardson, Goldschmidt, Larkby & Day, 2015). Gerteis et al. (2011) and they also indicate that exposure to cocaine is not a risk factor whereas exposure to tobacco is. Nevertheless, D'Onofrio, Van Hulle, Goodnight, Rathouz and Lahey (2012) with a significantly larger sample, conclude that exposure to tobacco is not a risk factor for criminal behavior when controlling other variables.
In terms of inadequate drug consumption, it is not a predictor of criminal behavior as it is the case with substances such as varenicline and AAS (Lundholm, Frisell, Lichtenstein, & Langström, 2015; Molero, Lichtenstein, Zetterqvist, Gumpert, & Fazel, 2015). However, inadequate consumption of drugs was linked with getting into fights (Drazdowski, Jäggi, Borre, & Kliewer, 2015; Tucker et al., 2015).
It is important to highlight that most of studies included focus on the consumption of alcohol and marijuana or poly-consume. In the future, it would be interesting to study the influence of the consumption of synthetic drugs on violent or criminal behavior, due to the increase of its current consumption, and its possible implication as a risk factor.
Another important point that must be mentioned is the limitations that this review can present. Firstly, we would like to point out the possible information bias, because some articles not included in the databases consulted may have been left out of the review. On the other hand, the use of self-reports when extracting sample information from some of the included articles may cause these data not to correspond 100 % with reality.
It can be concluded that in the last five years, research has confirmed that the abuse of substances (alcohol and cannabis) and poly-drug use (especially in the adolescent stage) represent a risk for the development of criminal behavior or for the severity of the crime, but not all substances are associated with all types of crime. In addition, the studies that appear here do not find consensus in that there is a reciprocal relationship between consumption and crime.
In short, it is important to note that knowing if the substance use variable represents a real risk factor for the development of criminal behavior, which was the objective of the review, is useful for the development of crime prevention programs and acting in penitentiary centers. In addition, this could not only have the purpose of crime prevention, but also be useful for the promotion of health and quality of life of adolescent and young population.
Referencias
Barrett, E. L., Teesson, M. y Mills, K. L. (2014). Associations between substance use, post-traumatic stress disorder and the perpetration of violence: A longitudinal investigation. Addictive Behaviors, 39, 1075-1080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2014.03.003 [ Links ]
Brook, J. S., Lee, J. Y., Finch, S. J. y Brook, D. W. (2014). Developmental trajectories of marijuana use from adolescence to adulthood: Relationship with using weapons including guns. Aggressive Behavior, 40, 229-237. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21520 [ Links ]
Carabellese, F., Candelli, C., Martinelli, D., La Tegola, D. y Catanesi, R. (2013). Cannabis use and violent behaviour: A psychiatric patients'cohort study in Southern Italy. Rivista di Psichiatria, 48, 43-50. https://doi.org/10.1708/1228.13614 [ Links ]
Carney, T., Myers, B. J., Louw, J., Lombard, C. y Flisher, A. J. (2013). The relationship between substance use and delinquency among high-school students in Cape Town, South Africa. Journal of Adolescence, 36, 447-455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.01.004 [ Links ]
Boden, J. M., Fergusson, D. M. y Horwood, L. J. (2013). Alcohol misuse and criminal offending: Findings from a 30-year longitudinal study. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 128, 30-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.07.014 [ Links ]
Davis, K. C., Danube, C. L., Stappenbeck, C. A., Norris, J. y George, W. H. (2015). Background predictors and event-specific characteristics of sexual aggression incidents: The roles of alcohol and other factors. Violence against Women, 21(8), 997-1017. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801215589379 [ Links ]
Dietze, P., Jenkinson, R., Aitken, C., Stoové, M., Jolley, D., Hickman, M. y Kerr, T. (2013). The relationship between alcohol use and injecting drug use: Impacts on health, crime and wellbeing. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 128, 111-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.08.013 [ Links ]
D'Onofrio, B. M., Van Hulle, C. A., Goodnight, J. A., Rathouz, P. J. y Lahey, B. B. (2012). Is maternal smoking during pregnancy a causal environmental risk factor for adolescent antisocial behavior? Testing etiological theories and assumptions. Psychological Medicine, 42, 1535-1545. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291711002443 [ Links ]
Drazdowski, T. K., Jäggi, L., Borre, A. y Kliewer, W. L. (2015). Use of prescription drugs and future delinquency among adolescent offenders. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 48, 28-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2014.07.008 [ Links ]
Dubow, E. F., Huesmann, L. R., Boxer, P. y Smith, C. (2014). Childhood predictors and age 48 outcomes of self-reports and official records of offending. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 24, 291-304. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.1929 [ Links ]
Ford, J. A. (2008). Nonmedical prescription drug use and delinquency: An analysis with a national sample. Journal of Drug Issues, 38, 493-516. https://doi.org/10.1177/002204260803800206 [ Links ]
Gatti, U., Soellner, R., Schadee, H., Verde, A. y Rocca, G. (2013). Effects of delinquency on alcohol use among juveniles in Europe: Results from the ISRD-2 study. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 19, 153-170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-013-9202-x [ Links ]
Gerteis, J., Chartrand, M., Martin, B., Cabral, H. J., Rose-Jacobs, R., Crooks, D. y Frank D. A. (2011). Are there effects of intrauterine cocaine exposure on delinquency during early adolescence? A preliminary report. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 32, 393-401. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0b013e318218d9f2 [ Links ]
Green, K. M., Doherty, E. E., Stuart, E. A. y Ensminger, M. E. (2010). Does heavy adolescent marijuana use lead to criminal involvement in adulthood? Evidence from a multiwave longitudinal study of urban African Americans. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 112, 117-125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.05.018 [ Links ]
Green, K. M., Doherty, E. E., Zebrak, K. A. y Ensminger, M. E. (2011). Association between adolescent drinking and adult violence: evidence from a longitudinal study of urban African Americans. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 72, 701-710. [ Links ]
Hunter, S. B., Miles, J. N., Pedersen, E. R., Ewing, B. A. y D'Amico, E. J. (2014). Temporal associations between substance use and delinquency among youth with a first-time offense. Addictive Behaviors, 39, 1081-1086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2014.03.002 [ Links ]
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (2015). Estadística de condenados: Menores [Conviction Statistics: Juveniles]. Recuperado de http://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/es/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176795&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735573206 [ Links ]
Jennings, W. G., Piquero, A. R., Roque, M. y Farrington, D. P. (2015). The effects of binge and problem drinking on problem behavior and adjustment over the life course: Findings from the cambridge study in delinquent development. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43, 453-463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2015.09.002 [ Links ]
Lambert, B. L., Bann, C. M., Bauer, C. R., Shankaran, S., Bada, H. S., Lester, B. M., … Higgins, R. D. (2013). Risk-taking behavior among adolescents with prenatal drug exposure and extrauterine environmental adversitiy. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 34, 669-679. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.DBP.0000437726.16588.e2 [ Links ]
Lundholm, L., Frisell, T., Lichtenstein, P. y Långström, N. (2015). Anabolic androgenic steroids and violent offending: confounding by polysubstance abuse among 10365 general population men. Addiction, 110, 100-108. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12715 [ Links ]
Maldonado-Molina, M. M., Reingle, J. M. y Jennings, W. G. (2011). Does alcohol use predict violent behaviors? The relationship between alcohol use and violence in a nationally representative longitudinal sample. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 9, 99-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204010384492 [ Links ]
Marel, C., Mills, K. L., Darke, S., Ross, J. Slade, T., Burns, L. y Teesson, M. (2013). Static and dynamic predictors of criminal involvement among people with heroin dependence: Findings from a 3-year longitudinal study. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 133, 600-606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.08.003 [ Links ]
McAdams, T. A., Salekin, R. T., Marti, C. N., Lester, W. S. y Barker, E. D. (2014). Co-ocurrence of antisocial behavior and substance use: Testing for sex differences in the impact of older male friends, low parental knowledge and friends' delinquency. Journal of Adolescence, 37, 247-256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.01.001 [ Links ]
McKinlay, A., Corrigan, J., Horwood, L. J. y Fergusson, D. M. (2014). Substance abuse and criminal activities following traumatic brain injury in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 29(6), 498-506. https://doi.org/10.1097/HTR.0000000000000001 [ Links ]
Miller, P. G., Butler, E., Richardson, B., Staiger, P. K. youssef, G. J., Macdonald, J. A., …Olsson, C. A. (2016). Relationships between problematic alcohol consumption and delinquent behaviour from adolescence to young adulthood. Drug and Alcohol Review, 35, 317-325. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.12345 [ Links ]
Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad (2013). Encuesta Nacional de Salud. España 2011/12. Serie Informes monográficos nº 1. Consumo de alcohol [National Health Statistics. Spain 2011/12. Series Reports nº 1. Alcohol Consumption]. Recuperado de http://www.msssi.gob.es/estadEstudios/estadisticas/encuestaNacional/encuestaNac2011/informesMonograficos/ENSE2011_12_MONOGRAFICO_1_ALCOHOL4.pdf [ Links ]
Molero, Y., Lichtenstein, P., Zetterqvist, J., Gumpert, C. H. y Fazel, S. (2015). Varenicline and risk of psychiatric condictions, suicidal behavior, criminal offending, and transport accidents and offences: population, based cohort study. The British Medical Journal, 350, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h2388 [ Links ]
Montgomery, K. L., Thomson, S. J. y Barczyk, A. N. (2011). Individual and relationship factor associated with delinquency among throwaway adolescents. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 1127-1133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.02.005 [ Links ]
Nordstrom, B. R. y Dackis, C. A. (2011). Drugs and crime. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 39, 663-687. https://doi.org/10.1177/009318531103900407 [ Links ]
Observatorio Español de las Drogas y las Toxicomanías (2015). Estadísticas 2015: Alcohol, tabaco y drogas ilegales en España [Statistics 2015: Alcohol, Tobacco and Illegal Drugs in Spain]. Recuperado de http://www.pnsd.msssi.gob.es/profesionales/sistemasInformacion/informesEstadisticas/pdf/ESTADISTICAS_2015.pdf [ Links ]
Observatorio Europeo de las Drogas y las Toxicomanías (2016). Informe Europeo sobre drogas. Tendencias y novedades [European Drug Report. Trends and Developments]. Recuperado de http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/2637/TDAT16001ESN.pdf [ Links ]
Oficina Europea de Estadística. (2010). Crime trends in detail. Recuperado de http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Crime_trends_in_detail [ Links ]
Organización Mundial de la Salud. (2014). Global status report on alcohol and health. Recuperado de http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/112736/1/9789240692763_eng.pdf [ Links ]
Pedersen, W. y Skardhamar, T. (2010). Cannabis and crime: Findings from a longitudinal study. Addiction, 105, 109-118. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02719.x [ Links ]
Pita, S., Vila, M. T. y Carpente, J. (1997). Determinación de factores de riesgo [Determination of Risk Factors]. Cadernos de Atención Primaria, 4(2), 75-78. [ Links ]
Pope, H. G., Kouri, E. M. y Hudson, J. I. (2000). Effects of supraphysiologic doses of testosterone on mood and aggression in normal men: A randomized controlled trial. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57, 133-140. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.57.2.133 [ Links ]
Pullmann, M. D. (2010). Predictors of criminal charges for youth in public mental health during the transition to adulthood. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 483-491. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-009-9320-8 [ Links ]
Reingle, J. M., Jennings, W. G. y Komro, K. A. (2013). A Case-Control Study of Risk and Protective Factors for Incarceration Among Urban Youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53, 471-477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.05.008 [ Links ]
Reingle, J. M., Jennings, W. G., Lynne-Landsman, S. D., Cottler, L. B. y Maldonado-Molina, M. M. (2013). Toward an understanding of risk and protective factors for violence among adolescent boys and men: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52, 493-498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.08.006 [ Links ]
Reingle, J. M., Jennings, W. G. y Maldonado-Molina, M. M. (2012). Risk and protective factors for trajectories of violent delinquency among a nationally representative sample of early adolescents. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 10, 261-277. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204011431589 [ Links ]
Richardson, G. A., Goldschmidt, L., Larkby, C. y Day, N. L. (2015). Effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on adolescent development. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 49, 41-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ntt.2015.03.002 [ Links ]
Salom, C. L., Betts, K. S., Williams, G. M., Najman, J. M., Scott, J. G. y Alati, R. (2014). Do young people with comorbid mental and alcohol disorders experience worse behavioural problems? Psychiatry Research, 219, 372-379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.05.056 [ Links ]
Secretaría General de Instituciones Penitenciarias (2016). Estadística penitenciaria. Población reclusa por sexo y edad (noviembre) [Penitentiary Statistics. Population Recluse by Sex and Age (November)]. Recuperado de http://www.institucionpenitenciaria.es/web/portal/documentos/ [ Links ]
Swahn, M. H. y Donovan, J. E. (2004). Correlates and predictors of violent behavior among adolescent drinkers. Journal of Adolescence Health, 34, 480-492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2003.08.018 [ Links ]
Terranova, C., Tucci, M., Sartore, D., Cavarzeran, F., Di Pietra, L., Barzon, L. … Ferrara, S. D. (2013). GABA receptors, alcohol dependence and criminal behavior. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 58, 1228-1232. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.12201 [ Links ]
Tucker, J. S., Ewing, B. A., Miles, J. N. V., Shih, R. A., Pedersen, E. R. y D'Amico, E. J. (2015). Predictors and consequences of prescription drug misuse during middle school. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 156, 254-260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.09.018 [ Links ]
Von Elm, E., Altman, D. G., Egger, M., Pocock, S. J., GØtzsche, P. C. y Vandenbroucke, J. P. (2008). Declaración de la iniciativa STROBE (Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology): Directrices para la comunicación de estudios observacionales [The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology Statement (STROBE): Guidelines for Reporting Observational Studies]. Gaceta Sanitaria, 22, 144-150. [ Links ]
White, H. R., Fite, P., Pardini, D., Mun, E. Y. y Loeber, R. (2013). Moderators of the dynamic link between alcohol use and aggressive behavior among adolescent males. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 211-222. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9673-0 [ Links ]
Yeater, E. A., Lenberg, K. L. y Bryan, A. D. (2012). Predictors of sexual aggression among male juvenile offenders. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27, 1242-1258. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260511425243 [ Links ]
Received: September 17, 2017; Accepted: November 09, 2017
Este es un artículo publicado en acceso abierto (Open Access) bajo la licencia Creative Commons Attribution, que permite su uso, distribución y reproducción en cualquier medio, sin restricciones siempre que el trabajo original sea debidamente citado.
