Estimation of Economic-Compulsive Drug-Related Crime in the Czech Republic

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Drug-related crime has multiple characteristics. Criminal offences committed to acquire drugs represent a significant part of drug-related crime. This article presents detailed results of a study performed by the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction in cooperation with the National Drug Headquarters and the Police Praesidium of the Czech Republic in 2018. AIMS: The aims of the study were to estimate the range of criminal offences committed by drug users attempting to obtain funds for purchasing drugs for personal consumption and provide insights into the structure of this group of crimes. METHODS: The study was designed as a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. The respondents were police officers working in regional departments. Data was collected through a 42-item questionnaire. The estimate was related to 2017. SAMPLE: A total of 80 district and city police headquarters were contacted, 78 of which completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: In 2017, drug users committed an estimated 46,300 criminal offences in order to acquire funds for drugs for personal use, which represented 23% of all the crimes registered in that year. Converted to cleared-up offences, an estimated 14,400 crimes (i.e. 15% of cleared-up criminal offences) were committed by drug users. The most frequent offences included simple theft, burglary, and the manufacturing, distributing, and other unauthorized handling of drugs. The highest proportion of offences committed by drug users was estimated for the manufacturing, distributing, and other unauthorized handling of drugs, simple theft, unauthorized possession of payment instruments, and burglary. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the limitations of the methodological framework, the study provided valuable insights into the incidence of drug-related crime in the Czech Republic, as this data is not collected in any existing data collection system. The results suggest that drug-related crime represents a significant share of the total registered crime and special attention should be paid to this problem. At the same time, in interpreting the results, the identified drawbacks and limited scope of the study need to be borne in mind. Therefore particular effort should be invested in the improvement of data collection in this area.