Requiem for A Dream: A Lifestyle and Routine Activities Victimological Analysis to Explore the Sexual Victimization of Illicit Drug Users

ABSTRACT

This study examines the sexual victimization of illicit drug users. Specifically, this research follows a lifestyle/routine activities framework to examine contexts of victimization associated with illicit drug uses. The sample uses in this study includes 264 cases of sexual offending where illicit drug users were targeted. To conduct a comparison analysis, we made a random selection of 500 cases of sexual offending where victims were not drug users. Bivariate and multivariate analysis are performed to examine the differences between the two groups and latent class analysis is used to generate an empirical classification of victimological processes leading to the sexual victimization of illicit drug users. Findings indicate that lifestyle characteristics and routine activities play an important role in the sexual victimization of illicit drug users. Classification analysis suggests that it exists five different patterns leading to the sexual victimization of illicit drug abusers: non-exposed lifestyle, festive lifestyle, criminal activity lifestyle, marginalized lifestyle, sex-trade worker lifestyle. External validity analysis shows that victimization characteristics are associated with the victimological context.

KEYWORDS:

• Illicit drug users
• sexual victimization
• lifestyle and routine activities
• victimology
• process

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. the Police Chief of the French Central Office for the Repression of Violences against Persons (Office Central de Répression des Violences aux Personnes) and Mr. the Central Director of the French Judicial Police (Direction Centrale de la Police Judiciaire).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The list of the following drugs was used to operationalize the drug user variable: marijuana, crack cocaine, other forms of cocaine, barbiturates, amphetamines, tranquilizers, heroin, other opiate type drugs, LSD, other psychedelics or hallucinogenic drugs such as mushrooms or PCP, anabolic steroids, and ecstasy (MDMA).

² Numbers in brackets are class membership probabilities