Actions for The Opioid Crisis and Crime : Understanding the Relationship Between Opioid Dispensing Rates and Crime Rates in the United States

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The Opioid Crisis and Crime : Understanding the Relationship Between Opioid Dispensing Rates and Crime Rates in the United States

Author
Ackerman, Catherine
Published
[University Park, Pennsylvania] : Pennsylvania State University, 2024.
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Nguyen, Holly and Schreyer Honors College
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Open Access.
Summary
From 1999-2021, nearly 645,000 people died from an opioid overdose, including both prescription and illicit opioids (CDC, 2023). These overdoses, along with opioid use disorder, or addictions, largely began as the number of opioid prescriptions rose in the late 1990s and continued into the 2000s. This thesis sought to understand how dispensing rates of opioid prescriptions impacted crime rates throughout these counties for these crime types. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the opioid dispensation rates of opioid prescriptions from 2006 to 2020 was used in this study in comparison with data from the Uniform Crime Report regarding crime rates from the same period for all crimes, violent crimes, and property crimes within one of 36 counties in the United States. The analysis of this data through correlations analyses and fixed-effects regression models revealed a strong positive relationship between dispensing rates and total crime and property crime rates within the counties studied, and a negative relationship between dispensing rates and violent crime rates. These findings are largely consistent with Paul J. Goldstein's tripartite model explaining the nexus between drugs and violence, explaining that drugs and violence can be related in three ways: the psychopharmacological model, the economic compulsive model, and the systemic model. Goldstein also argued that drug users, specifically opiate users, are less likely to engage in violent crimes; the evidence presented from this study was consistent with Goldstein's findings. Following this analysis' findings, further empirical research into the relationship between opioid dispensation rates and crime rates throughout the greater United States should be pursued.
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Dissertation Note
B.A. Pennsylvania State University 2024.
Technical Details
The full text of the dissertation is available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file ; Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view the file.
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