Substance Abuse and Homicide

Conceptual Framework

It is clear that substance abuse has a significant relationship with criminal activity. Goldstein and colleagues proposed tripartite framework to explain the relationship between drugs and crime. This framework postulated that crimes involving drugs could be classified into three categories: psychopharmacological, economic-compulsive, or systemic factors. A psychopharmacological relationship involves intoxication states after taking the drug. Similarly, an increase in impulsivity may result from a substance. An economic-compulsive relationship may result when criminal acts are needed to stave off the symptoms of withdrawal states that appear once the drug use has stopped. Finally, a systemic relationship results when the drug user enters or lives within a social context in which extraordinary drug use is just one factor in a set of intercorrelated criminal behaviors.

Empirical data for this model were supported by research in which drugs and alcohol were found to be important causes of a large share of all homicides (53% of 414 homicides) in samples from New York (Goldstein, Brownstein, & Ryan, 1992). Using this framework, Anthony and Forman succinctly summarized that there is no single drugs-crime relationship. On the contrary, most drugs-crime relationships are complex rather than simple. Furthermore, MacCoun and Kilmer have suggested that further refinements are needed to understand the complex relationship of drugs and crime.

Homicide and Violent Behavior

Homicide is an accurate and reliable indicator of all violent crime. In 1997, 32,436 individuals died from injuries resulting from firearms. Of these deaths, 42% were homicide victims (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). Trends in homicide and murder rates have demonstrated a decline over the past two decades. Homicide rates increased steadily during the late 1960s and 1970s, peaking at 10.2 homicides per 100,000 persons in 1980. Following a decrease to 7.9 homicides per 100,000 persons in 1985, the rate rose again to a peak of 9.8 homicides per 100,000 persons in 1991. In 2000, the homicide rate declined to 5.8 ageadjusted homicides per 100,000 persons (Minino & Smith, 2001).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, homicide was the 15th leading cause of death in the United States in 2000. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics (1997) showed that homicides accounted for 15% of all injury deaths, with rates highest among the 20- to 24-year-old age group. Firearms were responsible for 29% of injury [Page 456]deaths among persons aged 15 to 64 years and highest among persons 20 to 24 years of age (29.9 per 100,000). Furthermore, 48% of firearm deaths were homicides among the 15- to 64-year-old age group. Firearm death rates were about 8 times higher for males compared with females at ages 15 to 19 years and 20 to 24 years.

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