The Drugs—Guns Relationship: Exploring Dynamic and Static Models

Abstract

The relationship between the onset of drug use and the onset of criminality is an ongoing debate in criminology. This study adds to this debate by examining the effect of the age of onset of minor criminal behavior and substance abuse on later hard-drug use and criminal gun use. I use discrete-time event history models to examine the degree to which the onset of marijuana and alcohol use, as well as the onset of less serious forms of criminal involvement, hastens the onset of hard-drug use and criminal gun use. This research finds a progression of the severity of delinquent behavior from minor criminality and hard-drug use to criminal gun use, but little evident developmental progression from less serious delinquency to hard-drug use.