title: Motivations, substance use and other correlates amongst property and violent offenders who regularly inject drugs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the prevalence, correlates and motivations for the commission of property and violent crime amongst a sample of people who inject drugs (PWID).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were obtained from the 2013 Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS), which includes a cross-sectional sample of 887 PWID.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen percent of PWID had committed a property offence and 3% had committed a violent offence in the month preceding interview. Opioid dependence (AOR 2.57, 95% CI 1.29-5.10) and age (AOR 0.96, 95% CI 0.93-0.99) were found to be the strongest correlates of property crime. The majority of property offenders (75%) attributed their offending to financial reasons, however those under the influence of benzodiazepines were proportionately more likely to nominate opportunistic reasons as the main motivation for their last offence. Stimulant dependence (AOR 5.34, 95% CI 1.91-14.93) was the only significant correlate of past month violent crime, and the largest proportion of violent offenders (47%) attributed their offending to opportunistic reasons. The majority of both property (71%) and violent offenders (73%) reported being under the influence of drugs the last time they committed an offence; the largest proportion of property offenders reported being under the influence of benzodiazepines (29%) and methamphetamine (24%), whilst violent offenders mostly reported being under the influence of heroin and alcohol (32% respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Criminal motivations, substance use and other correlates vary considerably across crime types. This suggests that crime prevention and intervention strategies need to be tailored according to individual crime types, and should take into account self-reported criminal motivations, as well as specific risk factors that have been shown to increase the likelihood of offending.
authors.affiliation: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: rachels@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sutherland
authors.affiliation: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Natasha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sindicich
authors.affiliation: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.affiliation: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Whittaker
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine (Psychology), University of Tasmania, Australia.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peacock
authors.affiliation: School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hickey
authors.affiliation: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Burns
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D019969:Amphetamine-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001569:Benzodiazepines; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013800:Theft / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D001569:Benzodiazepines
keywords: Crime; Injecting; Motivations; Offending; PWID; Substance use