Essay Sample on Drugs and Victimization

Over the years, drug use has been acknowledged as one of the motivating factors for committing a crime. Ideally, owing to drugs' high addiction aspect, criminal offenders will consciously and unconsciously engage in crime to cater to their high addiction needs. As such, drug and substance users are more likely to be victimized, particularly because of the susceptibility of their lifestyle (Lee & Hilinski-Rosick, 2011). Typically, drug use and victimization are best explained by routine activities and lifestyle theories. The latter asserts that persons with certain demographic profiles, and in this case college drug users, are more likely to be victimized of crime chiefly because their social life, including their lifestyle, brings forth risky situations in society (Madero-Hernandez, 2019). On the other hand, the routine activities theory posits that a criminal offender is highly likely to engage in a criminal act based on their days' activities. The routine activities theory holds that crime is relatively unaffected by aspects such as poverty and unemployment, among other factors.

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Based on the two theories, college students, particularly drug users, are likely to experience crime victimization. Most often than not, college students, including drug users observe a series of routines both at school and at home, an aspect that somewhat exposes them to the perception that they are more likely to engage in crime to address and cater for their costly and addictive drug use habits (Branic, 2015).

Particularly, drug users in college tend to experience crime victimization because their lifestyle requires a constant or at least a steady supply of money, which to most, if not all, is quite unattainable. As such, and based on the routine, drug users in college have had to constantly deal with the crime victimization aspect while learning how to deal with the perception of their social life (Kitteringham, 2010). Overall, college drug users are more likely to be victimized because of their predetermined typical days and limited their limited nature to sustain their expensive lifestyle habits such as drug use.

References

Branic, N. (2015). Routine Activities Theory. The Encyclopedia Of Crime And Punishment, 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118519639.wbecpx059

Kitteringham, G. (2010). Routine Activity Theory - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. Sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 10 July 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/routine-activity-theory.

Lee, D., & Hilinski-Rosick, C. (2011). The Role of Lifestyle and Personal Characteristics on Fear of Victimization among University Students. American Journal Of Criminal Justice, 37(4), 647-668. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-011-9136-0

Madero-Hernandez, A. (2019). Lifestyle Exposure Theory of Victimization. The Encyclopedia Of Women And Crime, 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118929803.ewac0334