Impact of Drug Use History on the Severity of Sexual Assaults within Indian Country

• In Event: Factors Surrounding the Severity of Sexual Assaults among Native Americans

Abstract

Research on alcohol use, drug use, and polysubstance abuse has previously been examined for the Alaskan Native population as well as the Native American population (Malcolm et al., 2006). In addition to this, research has been conducted on whether or not being a drug user has an impact on the degree of violence that occurs in the commission of a crime outside of drug-induced crime (Torok et al., 2012). While these topics have been researched separately, none have looked at the impact of drug use history on the severity of sexual assaults that occur within the Native American population. Using data collected by the Center for Applied Criminal Case Analysis, the impact of drug history among Native American sexual offenders is compared to the severity of the sexual assault committed.

Authors

• Jenna Seward, Florida Institute of Technology

• Marshall A. Jones, Florida Institute of Technology

• Travis W. Conradt, Florida Institute of Technology