Drug Use/Abuse and Addiction: Perceived Connections to Criminal Behavior and Sadipathic Offending

Abstract

This project investigated the beliefs that people have about the connections between alcohol and drug use/abuse, addiction, criminal behavior, and sadipathic offending. Data were collected from 605 respondents via a quantitative survey. Overall, the respondents tended to lean in the direction that alcohol and drug use/abuse and addiction were associated with crime, violence, and victimizing others. Those from certain ethnic/racial groups were the most likely to state there are connections (e.g., Hispanic, Asian, White). Women were more likely to discern a connection between sadipathy and substance use/abuse, addiction, and victimizing others. Reliability analysis demonstrated a high level of internal consistency across the scaled items (α = .848). The findings support the extant literature showing that substance use/abuse and addiction are associated with criminal behavior and sadipathic offending.