Engagement with the criminal justice system among opioid-dependent people: a retrospective cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
Studies of offending among people who use drugs typically focus upon small and potentially unrepresentative samples. We examined an entire population of opioid-dependent clients' contact with the criminal justice system to develop more accurate population-wide measures of offending among opioid-dependent people in Australia.


METHODS
Retrospective data linkage study.


METHODS
All entrants to opioid substitution therapy (OST) for opioid dependence in New South Wales, Australia, between 1985 and 2010, with data on court appearances from 1 December 1993 to 31 March 2011.


METHODS
All 48 069 valid cohort members who received OST between 1985 and 2010.


METHODS
Person-years (PY) of observation and charge rates for major crime categories estimated by sex, age and time.


RESULTS
A total of 638 545 charges were laid against cohort members between 1993 and 2011. Eight in 10 males (79.7%) and 67.9% of females had at least one charge; rates were 94.15 per 100 PY [95% confidence interval (CI) = 93.89-94.41] among males, and 53.19 per 100 PY (95% CI = 52.91-53.46) among females, and highest at 15-19 years [175.74/100 PY males (95% CI = 174.45-177.03), 75.60/100 PY females (95% CI = 74.46-76.76)] and 20-24 years [144.61/100 PY males (95% CI = 143.70-145.53), 84.50/100 PY females (95% CI = 83.53-85.48)]. The most frequent charges were theft (24.5% of charges), traffic/vehicle (16.3%), offences against justice (10.5%), illicit drug (10.0%), intentional injury (9.9%) and public order offences (8.9%). Overall, 20.8% of the cohort accounted for 67.4% of charges. The most frequently appearing 5.6% of the cohort accounted for 24.3% of costs ($75.5 million).


CONCLUSIONS
Among opioid-dependent people in Australia, a minority account for the majority of the criminal justice contact and levels of offending are not consistent over time, sex or age.
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Louisa
L
Degenhardt
Natasa
N
Gisev
Judy
J
Trevena
Sarah
S
Larney
Jo
J
Kimber
Lucy
L
Burns
Marian
M
Shanahan
Don
D
Weatherburn
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D003415:Crime / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003416:Criminal Law / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
Cohort study; crime; data linkage; opioid dependence; opioid substitution therapy