Committing Economic Crime for Drug Money

• Published in: Crime and delinquency Vol. 63; no. 4; pp. 375 - 390
• Main Authors: Felson, Richard B., Staff, Jeremy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-04-2017; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Cocaine; Crack cocaine; Crime; Drug abuse; Drug dealing; Drug offenders; Drug use; Heroin; Income; Marijuana; Methamphetamine; Money; Motivation; Offenders; Prisoners; Property; illegal drug use; property crime; party lifestyle; drug trafficking; addiction
• ISSN: 0011-1287; 1552-387X
• DOI: 10.1177/0011128715591696

We examine the effects of the type and frequency of drug use on whether offenders engage in economic crime to obtain money for drugs. Analyses are based on a nationally representative sample of prison inmates (5,371 property offenders and 4,588 drug offenders). Daily users of heroin, crack cocaine, or powdered cocaine are most likely to report that they committed their offense for drug money. However, offenders who used these drugs less frequently and daily users of marijuana and methamphetamine reported this motivation as well. The motivation was more common among offenders who lacked access to legitimate income. The findings suggest that economic crimes are used to support recreational drug use as well as heavy use of heroin and cocaine.