RESEARCH STARTER

Crime and substance abuse


Full Article

DEFINITION: Alcohol and illicit drugs are involved in between 60 and 80 percent of all criminal offenses leading to arrest and incarceration in the United States. Common crimes involving substance abuse are domestic violence, driving under the influence (DUI), assault and battery, and property offenses such as theft and burglary.

Background

The precise relationship between substance abuse and crime is difficult to define. First, the cultivation, manufacturing, possession, and sale of illicit drugs are each crimes in their own right. This fact is aligned with numerous studies that have connected the propensity of persons who abuse illicit drugs to commit crimes. Similarly, laws dictating the appropriate distribution and consumption of alcoholic beverages exist throughout the United States. While these statutes themselves are often violated, there exists a well-established parallel between abusive alcohol use and criminal behavior.

It is widely accepted that the behavior of persons impaired by illicit drug and alcohol abuse is prone to erratic tendencies, poor judgment, impulsivity, and violence that lends itself to criminal activity. Repeated abuse of alcohol and drugs also decreases the self-control and inhibitions that lead to criminal behavior.

Data acquired from the population of incarcerated individuals in the United States illustrates that a considerable number of imprisoned individuals were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or both, when committing offenses of all kinds. The most prevalent drugs present in those who get arrested include marijuana, cocaine, heroin, morphine, prescription painkillers, methamphetamine, and amphetamines. An estimated 50 percent of all individuals in American jails and prisons have clinical addictions.

Crime and Alcohol Abuse

Motor vehicle violations make up the majority of alcohol-related crimes in the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that around 1 million Americans are arrested for driving while intoxicated each year. The CDC reported that alcohol-related automobile accidents cost taxpayers over $123.3 billion annually in the 2020s. In 2023, 12,429 Americans died in alcohol-impaired driving accidents, accounting for over 30 percent of traffic fatalities (although this was an 8 percent decrease from 2022).

While decades of public interest campaigns led by national law enforcement agencies like NHTSA and nonprofit organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the DUI Foundation have kept the dangers of drunk driving in the public eye, alcohol abuse is also ubiquitous in a wide variety of non-vehicle-related crimes. Domestic violence, underage drinking, and assault are the most frequently occurring non-vehicle-related but alcohol-related crimes in the United States.

While research has uncovered a recurring coexistence between domestic violence and alcohol abuse, not all domestic violence perpetrators have an alcohol use disorder, and not all people with an alcohol use disorder engage in domestic violence. However, about two-thirds of intimate partner violence survivors report that the perpetrator had been drinking. A contrary rationale is that while alcohol abuse is regularly a contributing factor in many domestic violence acts, there also are cases in which perpetrators use alcohol abuse as an excuse or an avoidance of accountability, and at the time of arrest, about 40 percent of those incarcerated for violent offenses had been drinking alcohol.

There is a less scholarly gray area between underage alcohol use and criminal behavior. Consumption of alcohol by persons under twenty-one is a commonly perpetrated crime. According to the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, individuals between twelve and twenty consume 3 percent of all the alcohol consumed in the United States each year, despite the illegality of doing so. In 2023, this age group accounted for 1,392 deaths in motor-vehicle crashes involving impaired driving. The CDC reports that underage alcohol abuse leads to higher rates of school absence and reckless sexual behavior, and contributes to reduced brain development and memory problems. Underage binge drinking is also linked to increased incidence of interpersonal violence, both as victims and perpetrators. Like adults, underage individuals have a higher propensity to violate laws or drive while under the influence. The risk of criminal behavior appears to follow underage drinkers into adulthood, according to a study by the University of Miami that linked abusive underage alcohol consumption with a greater probability of committing property crimes like theft or predatory crimes like assault later in adulthood.

According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), alcohol is more closely associated with violent crime than any other drug, except for robbery. Alcohol plays a role in nearly 40 percent of sexual assaults, 15 percent of robberies, 30 percent of aggravated assaults, and about 25 percent of simple assaults.

Crime and Drug Abuse

Drug-related offenses are broken into three categories by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): drug possession and sales, offenses committed to support preexisting drug abuse, and drug-related involvement in criminal activities not related to drugs. According to Drug Policy Facts, there were 870,874 arrests for drug law violations in 2023, more than in any other crime category. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) arrests over 25,000 people for possession each year, and has done so every year since 1986.

Many individuals who use illicit drugs rely on petty crimes to support their habit. These crimes range from petty theft to burglary and grand theft auto. NIDA research also ties drug use to several other felony convictions, including money laundering, grand theft, and counterfeiting.

While a majority of drug-related crimes can be attributed to the illegality of drugs themselves, research shows that many criminal acts are carried out by persons acting under the influence of or in the pursuit of many types of illicit drugs. That said, the relationship between drugs and crime remains extremely difficult to determine from a research perspective and remains a topic of debate among criminologists and sociologists.

Youth-Oriented Prevention

Federal, state, and local agencies have implemented a range of prevention strategies attempting to reduce the appeal of drug use and address associated criminal activity. These strategies and programs attempt to prevent school-age children, adolescents, and young adults from engaging in drug culture through educational coursework and demonstrations highlighting the risks of drug use, with mixed effectiveness.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (D.A.R.E.) is an example of a nationwide effort that failed to produce lasting reductions in drug use and violence. Founded in 1983 by then–Los Angeles Police Department Chief Daryl Gates, the program was widely implemented in US public schools to educate youth about the dangers of drug use through lectures, drug identification demonstrations, and police-led classroom visits intended to foster trust.

By the late 1990s, research began to show that the D.A.R.E. program was largely ineffective in reducing drug use and, in some cases, was linked to increased alcohol and drug use among participants. Evaluation studies demonstrating the program’s ineffectiveness were made by several federal agencies, including the US Office of the Surgeon General and the US Department of Education (ED). The program’s widespread reputation for ineffectiveness led the ED to prohibit schools from utilizing federal funds for the program in 1998. However, D.A.R.E. underwent a curriculum overhaul in the 2010s, shifting to an evidence-based “keepin’ it REAL” program. This version of D.A.R.E. demonstrated improved outcomes in some evaluations.

Earlier digital efforts by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, such as TheAntiDrug.com (which later became drugfree.org) and AboveTheInfluence.com, marked a shift away from school-based strategies to prevent crime and substance abuse. These campaigns emphasized parental influence and the rejection of drug-related counterculture. Modern models in Europe, such as Iceland’s Youth in Iceland program, emphasize engaging youth in healthy activities like music, dance, or self-improvement classes, along with an outdoor nightly curfew for ages thirteen to sixteen. The program has seen dramatic results in curbing underage misuse of drugs and alcohol. While not adopted nationally, several US cities implemented pilot programs based on these models in the 2010s and 2020s, including Portland, Oregon.


Bibliography

Ahopelto, Emil, et al. "The Impact of Substances on the Brain: Relationship between Substance Use and Crime." Ox Journal, Oxford Scholastica Academy, 20 Oct. 2025, www.oxjournal.org/the-relationship-between-substance-use-and-crime. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

"Alcohol, Drugs and Crime." Recovered, 1 Dec. 2025, recovered.org/addiction/alcohol-drugs-and-crime. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Andrews, D. A., and James Bonta. The Psychology of Criminal Conduct. 7th ed., Routledge, 2024.

Bean, Philip. Drugs and Crime. 4th ed., Routledge, 2014.

Best, David, and Charlotte Colman. Strengths-Based Approaches to Crime and Substance Use: From Drugs and Crime to Desistance and Recovery. Routledge, 2020.

"Criminal Justice Drug Facts." National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1 June 2020, nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/criminal-justice. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

"Drugs and Crime." National Institute of Justice, nij.ojp.gov/topics/drugs. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

"Drugs and Crime Research Projects." National Institute of Justice, 9 Oct. 2024, nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/drugs-and-crime-research-projects. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

"Drug Related Crime Statistics." National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, drugabusestatistics.org/drug-related-crime-statistics. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Evans, Caroline B. R., et al. “A Systematic Review of Crime/Violence and Substance Use Prevention Programs.” Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol. 56, 2021, doi:10.1016/j.avb.2020.101513. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Hanson, Glen, et al. Drugs and Society. 15th ed., Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2025.

Martens, Tamera. "How Drugs & Alcohol Can Fuel Violent Behaviors." American Addiction Centers, 16 May 2025, americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-and-violence. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Reynolds, Corey. "Alcohol-Related Crimes and Offenses." National TASC, 30 Oct. 2023, www.nationaltasc.org/alcohol-related-crimes-offenses. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

“The Systems Approach to Crime and Drug Prevention: A Path to Community Policing.” US Department of Justice, Sept. 1993, www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/systems-approach-crime-and-drug-prevention-path-community-policing. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Walker, Samuel, et al. The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. 6th ed., Cengage, 2017.

Full Article

DEFINITION: Alcohol and illicit drugs are involved in between 60 and 80 percent of all criminal offenses leading to arrest and incarceration in the United States. Common crimes involving substance abuse are domestic violence, driving under the influence (DUI), assault and battery, and property offenses such as theft and burglary.

Background

The precise relationship between substance abuse and crime is difficult to define. First, the cultivation, manufacturing, possession, and sale of illicit drugs are each crimes in their own right. This fact is aligned with numerous studies that have connected the propensity of persons who abuse illicit drugs to commit crimes. Similarly, laws dictating the appropriate distribution and consumption of alcoholic beverages exist throughout the United States. While these statutes themselves are often violated, there exists a well-established parallel between abusive alcohol use and criminal behavior.

It is widely accepted that the behavior of persons impaired by illicit drug and alcohol abuse is prone to erratic tendencies, poor judgment, impulsivity, and violence that lends itself to criminal activity. Repeated abuse of alcohol and drugs also decreases the self-control and inhibitions that lead to criminal behavior.

Data acquired from the population of incarcerated individuals in the United States illustrates that a considerable number of imprisoned individuals were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or both, when committing offenses of all kinds. The most prevalent drugs present in those who get arrested include marijuana, cocaine, heroin, morphine, prescription painkillers, methamphetamine, and amphetamines. An estimated 50 percent of all individuals in American jails and prisons have clinical addictions.

Crime and Alcohol Abuse

Motor vehicle violations make up the majority of alcohol-related crimes in the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that around 1 million Americans are arrested for driving while intoxicated each year. The CDC reported that alcohol-related automobile accidents cost taxpayers over $123.3 billion annually in the 2020s. In 2023, 12,429 Americans died in alcohol-impaired driving accidents, accounting for over 30 percent of traffic fatalities (although this was an 8 percent decrease from 2022).

While decades of public interest campaigns led by national law enforcement agencies like NHTSA and nonprofit organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the DUI Foundation have kept the dangers of drunk driving in the public eye, alcohol abuse is also ubiquitous in a wide variety of non-vehicle-related crimes. Domestic violence, underage drinking, and assault are the most frequently occurring non-vehicle-related but alcohol-related crimes in the United States.

While research has uncovered a recurring coexistence between domestic violence and alcohol abuse, not all domestic violence perpetrators have an alcohol use disorder, and not all people with an alcohol use disorder engage in domestic violence. However, about two-thirds of intimate partner violence survivors report that the perpetrator had been drinking. A contrary rationale is that while alcohol abuse is regularly a contributing factor in many domestic violence acts, there also are cases in which perpetrators use alcohol abuse as an excuse or an avoidance of accountability, and at the time of arrest, about 40 percent of those incarcerated for violent offenses had been drinking alcohol.

There is a less scholarly gray area between underage alcohol use and criminal behavior. Consumption of alcohol by persons under twenty-one is a commonly perpetrated crime. According to the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, individuals between twelve and twenty consume 3 percent of all the alcohol consumed in the United States each year, despite the illegality of doing so. In 2023, this age group accounted for 1,392 deaths in motor-vehicle crashes involving impaired driving. The CDC reports that underage alcohol abuse leads to higher rates of school absence and reckless sexual behavior, and contributes to reduced brain development and memory problems. Underage binge drinking is also linked to increased incidence of interpersonal violence, both as victims and perpetrators. Like adults, underage individuals have a higher propensity to violate laws or drive while under the influence. The risk of criminal behavior appears to follow underage drinkers into adulthood, according to a study by the University of Miami that linked abusive underage alcohol consumption with a greater probability of committing property crimes like theft or predatory crimes like assault later in adulthood.

According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), alcohol is more closely associated with violent crime than any other drug, except for robbery. Alcohol plays a role in nearly 40 percent of sexual assaults, 15 percent of robberies, 30 percent of aggravated assaults, and about 25 percent of simple assaults.

Crime and Drug Abuse

Drug-related offenses are broken into three categories by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): drug possession and sales, offenses committed to support preexisting drug abuse, and drug-related involvement in criminal activities not related to drugs. According to Drug Policy Facts, there were 870,874 arrests for drug law violations in 2023, more than in any other crime category. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) arrests over 25,000 people for possession each year, and has done so every year since 1986.

Many individuals who use illicit drugs rely on petty crimes to support their habit. These crimes range from petty theft to burglary and grand theft auto. NIDA research also ties drug use to several other felony convictions, including money laundering, grand theft, and counterfeiting.

While a majority of drug-related crimes can be attributed to the illegality of drugs themselves, research shows that many criminal acts are carried out by persons acting under the influence of or in the pursuit of many types of illicit drugs. That said, the relationship between drugs and crime remains extremely difficult to determine from a research perspective and remains a topic of debate among criminologists and sociologists.

Youth-Oriented Prevention

Federal, state, and local agencies have implemented a range of prevention strategies attempting to reduce the appeal of drug use and address associated criminal activity. These strategies and programs attempt to prevent school-age children, adolescents, and young adults from engaging in drug culture through educational coursework and demonstrations highlighting the risks of drug use, with mixed effectiveness.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (D.A.R.E.) is an example of a nationwide effort that failed to produce lasting reductions in drug use and violence. Founded in 1983 by then–Los Angeles Police Department Chief Daryl Gates, the program was widely implemented in US public schools to educate youth about the dangers of drug use through lectures, drug identification demonstrations, and police-led classroom visits intended to foster trust.

By the late 1990s, research began to show that the D.A.R.E. program was largely ineffective in reducing drug use and, in some cases, was linked to increased alcohol and drug use among participants. Evaluation studies demonstrating the program’s ineffectiveness were made by several federal agencies, including the US Office of the Surgeon General and the US Department of Education (ED). The program’s widespread reputation for ineffectiveness led the ED to prohibit schools from utilizing federal funds for the program in 1998. However, D.A.R.E. underwent a curriculum overhaul in the 2010s, shifting to an evidence-based “keepin’ it REAL” program. This version of D.A.R.E. demonstrated improved outcomes in some evaluations.

Earlier digital efforts by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, such as TheAntiDrug.com (which later became drugfree.org) and AboveTheInfluence.com, marked a shift away from school-based strategies to prevent crime and substance abuse. These campaigns emphasized parental influence and the rejection of drug-related counterculture. Modern models in Europe, such as Iceland’s Youth in Iceland program, emphasize engaging youth in healthy activities like music, dance, or self-improvement classes, along with an outdoor nightly curfew for ages thirteen to sixteen. The program has seen dramatic results in curbing underage misuse of drugs and alcohol. While not adopted nationally, several US cities implemented pilot programs based on these models in the 2010s and 2020s, including Portland, Oregon.


Bibliography

Ahopelto, Emil, et al. "The Impact of Substances on the Brain: Relationship between Substance Use and Crime." Ox Journal, Oxford Scholastica Academy, 20 Oct. 2025, www.oxjournal.org/the-relationship-between-substance-use-and-crime. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

"Alcohol, Drugs and Crime." Recovered, 1 Dec. 2025, recovered.org/addiction/alcohol-drugs-and-crime. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Andrews, D. A., and James Bonta. The Psychology of Criminal Conduct. 7th ed., Routledge, 2024.

Bean, Philip. Drugs and Crime. 4th ed., Routledge, 2014.

Best, David, and Charlotte Colman. Strengths-Based Approaches to Crime and Substance Use: From Drugs and Crime to Desistance and Recovery. Routledge, 2020.

"Criminal Justice Drug Facts." National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1 June 2020, nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/criminal-justice. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

"Drugs and Crime." National Institute of Justice, nij.ojp.gov/topics/drugs. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

"Drugs and Crime Research Projects." National Institute of Justice, 9 Oct. 2024, nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/drugs-and-crime-research-projects. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

"Drug Related Crime Statistics." National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, drugabusestatistics.org/drug-related-crime-statistics. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Evans, Caroline B. R., et al. “A Systematic Review of Crime/Violence and Substance Use Prevention Programs.” Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol. 56, 2021, doi:10.1016/j.avb.2020.101513. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Hanson, Glen, et al. Drugs and Society. 15th ed., Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2025.

Martens, Tamera. "How Drugs & Alcohol Can Fuel Violent Behaviors." American Addiction Centers, 16 May 2025, americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-and-violence. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Reynolds, Corey. "Alcohol-Related Crimes and Offenses." National TASC, 30 Oct. 2023, www.nationaltasc.org/alcohol-related-crimes-offenses. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

“The Systems Approach to Crime and Drug Prevention: A Path to Community Policing.” US Department of Justice, Sept. 1993, www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/systems-approach-crime-and-drug-prevention-path-community-policing. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Walker, Samuel, et al. The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. 6th ed., Cengage, 2017.

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