Home Department written question – answered at on 12 March 2009.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons her Department does not make an annual estimate of the levels of acquisitive crime associated with drug addiction; and if she will make a statement.
The Department does not produce annual estimates of drug-related acquisitive crime. Both drug use and offending are often covert activities and the relationship between them can be complex, consequently such estimates are subject to large uncertainties.
The Department has published research that shows that drug users account for a large proportion of acquisitive crime, with recent survey data focusing on the extent of acquisitive crime that is class A drug-related. For example:
81 per cent. of arrestees who used heroin and/or crack cocaine (HC) on at least a weekly basis reported committing acquisitive crimes in the 12 months prior to arrest, in comparison to 30 per cent. of those arrestees who did not take HC weekly(1). Additionally, around two-fifths (39 per cent.) of drug treatment seekers reported committing an acquisitive crime in the four weeks prior to interview. This figure rose in the case of heroin and crack cocaine users, with 55 per cent. reporting that they committed an acquisitive crime in the four weeks before interview(2).
Sources:
(1 )Table 5.4 Home Office Statistical Bulletin 12/07
http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb1207.pdf
(2) Home Office Research Report 3
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