Desistance in drug-using offenders: A narrative review

682980EUC0010.1177/1477370816682980European Journal of CriminologyVan Roeyen et al.
research-article2016
Article
European Journal of Criminology
2017, Vol. 14(5) 606 –625
Desistance in drug-using
© The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370816682980
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review
Sofie Van Roeyen
Ghent University, Belgium
Sarah Anderson
Glasgow University, UK
Wouter Vanderplasschen
Ghent University, Belgium
Charlotte Colman
Ghent University, Belgium
Freya Vander Laenen
Ghent University, Belgium
Abstract
The majority of available desistance research has examined desistance in the general offender
population. However, applying the desistance approach to specific groups of offenders has potential
to enrich our knowledge since their change processes show differences compared with those of
the general offender population. Drug-using offenders is the group of offenders that has received
most attention from desistance researchers. This article presents a narrative review of 15 studies
that focus on desistance in this population. This review opted for a strict interpretation of ‘drug-
using offenders’ in which two constitutive elements had to be present for inclusion, namely drug
use and offending. Results indicate that only a limited amount of research applies the language of
desistance to drug-using offenders. Also, it was apparent from the review that drug-using offenders
are approached interchangeably with ‘desistance’ language and ‘recovery’ language. This review thus
identifies gaps within the existing desistance literature, and it is expected that the further application
Corresponding author:
Sofie Van Roeyen, Department of Criminology, Criminal Law and Social Law, Faculty of Law, Ghent
University, Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy, Ghent, 9000, Belgium.
Email: Sofie.VanRoeyen@UGent.be

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of desistance language to drug-using offenders can build a better understanding of why and how
drug-using offenders desist from drug use and offending. Further interdisciplinary research should
be conducted on specific offender populations to improve understanding of the change process(es),
which seems to be dual in nature but with a dynamic interplay between desistance and recovery.
Keywords
Desistance, drug-using offenders, narrative review, recovery
Introduction
It is a longstanding tradition in criminological research to study the onset of criminal
careers and the reasons why people start offending (Bushway et al., 2003). Desistance
from crime was largely neglected in criminological research until the mid-1980s. Most
studies on desistance have been within the context of developmental and life-course
criminology (Sampson and Laub, 1993). Within this burgeoning field of desistance
research, researchers interpret desistance as a dynamic process of change to a state of
sustained non-involvement in crime, which appears to be influenced by multiple inter-
locking factors (Bushway et al., 2003; Laub and Sampson, 2001; Maruna, 2001). Despite
the growing body of knowledge on desistance, previous desistance studies have mainly
examined desistance in the general offender population (Laub and Sampson, 2001).
Recently more attention has been focused on studying desistance in specific groups of
offenders, such as sex offenders (Harris, 2014). The majority of this research focuses on
drug users (see, for example, Chu and Sung, 2009) and drug-using offenders (see this nar-
rative review).1 However, knowledge on desistance in drug-using offenders is still scant.
That is surprising considering the complex relationship between drug use and crime and
given the detailed exploration of the relationship between drug misuse and offending and
the overlap in populations involved in drug misuse and offending (Bennett et al., 2008;
Best and Savic, 2015; Casavant and Collin, 2001; Nurco, 1998). Various theoretical mod-
els have been developed to explain the relationship between the onset and development of
drug use and crime. Criminologists and addiction researchers have alternatively proposed
that drug use can lead to economic-compulsive, psychopharmacological or systemic
crime, that crime can lead to drug use and that both drug use and crime could have similar
underlying causes (Gjeruldsen et al., 2004; Goldstein, 1985). The strength of this relation-
ship varies with the type of drug (Bennett et al., 2008), the type of crime (Bennett et al.,
2008; Casavant and Collin, 2001) and addiction status (Nurco, 1998). Nurco (1998:
1827), for example, distinguishes between those whose offending is related to drug use
and that escalates markedly during periods of addiction (‘primary drug users’), and those
whose involvement in offending preceded drug use and does not change remarkably
between periods of addiction and non-addiction (‘primary offenders’) (Best et al., 2008;
Nurco, 1998). There are high criminal recidivism rates among drug-using offenders
(Stanford and Arrigo, 2005), and, for at least some drug-using offenders, there seems to
be an ‘ensnarement effect’ whereby drug use perpetuates engagement in criminal activity
and thus increases the likelihood of re-arrest and readmission to jail (Prendergast et al.,
2010). The high likelihood of relapse for problematic drug users may result in the devel-
opment of extended criminal careers (Stanford and Arrigo, 2005).

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It is highly likely that the desistance journey is more complex for a population of
drug-using offenders in comparison with non-drug-using offenders because drug use can
be a risk and confounding factor in their desistance process (Makkai and Payne, 2003)
and both drug use and recidivism are relapsing conditions for drug-using offenders
(Tiburcio, 2008).
Given the emerging focus on desistance research and attention to drug-using offend-
ers in these studies, this narrative review summarizes the main findings of studies on
desistance in drug-using offenders. It presents an overview of the conceptualizations of
desistance and drug-using offenders, gives an overview of the factors leading to desist-
ance, points out the limitations of that research and provides suggestions for future
research in order to gain deeper insight into the change process of drug-using offenders.
Method
To synthesize research on desistance in drug-using offenders, a narrative review is under-
taken. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they met the following criteria:
(i) Desistance: broadly defined as a gradual and dynamic process whereby people
stop committing crime or reduce the frequency, variety or severity of offending
(Bushway et al., 2003; Loeber and LeBlanc, 1990). Consequently, studies about
protective factors for reoffending, reduction in recidivism and re-arrest rates are
included. Studies are considered eligible if at least part of the empirical results
relate to desistance in drug-using offenders.
(ii) Target population: the population ‘drug-using offenders’ was interpreted very
strictly because four elements needed to be present. First, the studied samples
needed to have used drugs (currently, or in the past; any type of illicit drug or
alcohol). Second, they had to have committed a crime (currently or in the past;
any type). For the latter, illicit drug use or possession of illicit drugs did not, in
itself, count as offending. Third, drug use and crime had to be present in the same
period. Finally, this review includes only adult drug-using offenders.
(iii) Study design: all empirical studies were included, regardless of methodology.
Quantitative and qualitative designs, designs based on primary or secondary data,
and longitudinal as well as cross-sectional research designs are included.
To identify relevant studies, a search of three databases was conducted: Web of
Science, PubMed and PsycNET.2 Since the literature search was limited to these three
databases, only studies published in these databases were included, leading to an exclu-
sion of monographs or book chapters. At two time points (27 January 2015; 1 December
2015) searches were conducted using the following search strategy: desist* AND (drug*
OR substance* OR alcohol* dependent* OR addict*).
Together, the searches generated 294 different hits. Identified articles underwent two
consecutive selection phases. The reasons for exclusion all derived from failure to
meet all of the inclusion criteria. The first phase involved a screening on the basis of title
and abstract. As a result, 227 studies were excluded, and 67 studies remained for the
second selection phase. These remaining studies were examined more closely by means
of screening the full text, with a focus on the methods section. As a result, 14 studies

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appeared eligible for this narrative review and 53 additional studies were excluded.
Besides this traditional searching strategy, the references used in the included papers
were screened while reading (see hand searches). As a result, one extra study was
included. This all resulted in a total of 15 eligible studies for the review. These have been
numbered (1)–(15) in the reference list and in the overview table.
Results
The findings start with an overview table that presents important information on the aims
and methods of the included articles (Table 1). Secondly, the conceptualization of desist-
ance...