Citation

Allen C. Br. J. Criminol. 2005; 45(3): 355-372.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/bjc/azi001

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There has been a wealth of research into the links between heroin, crack cocaine and the committal of crime in general. However, there has been much less research into the links between heroin, crack cocaine and the committal of street crimes. In this paper, I draw on my own research evidence to examine the nature of these links and find that heroin and crack cocaine use was not a direct cause of petty crime' such as shoplifting. This is because the onset of participation in petty crimes, such as shoplifting, tends to precede induction into drug use. However, I also find that regular use of heroin and crack cocaine eventually led, and was thus apparently related, to street robbery and snatch theft. I qualify this latter finding by showing how and why street crimes were one-off acts of desperation'.