Junkie Work, “Hustles” and Social Status among Heroin Addicts

Abstract

Although the general relationship between heroin addiction and criminal behavior is widely acknowledged, little is known about how addicts come to engage in particular types of crime. This paper presents a detailed description and analysis of the criminal activities reported by 1,248 narcotic addicts who had been committed to the California Rehabilitation Center for drug addiction. The study findings confirm the general relationship between addiction and crime. However, the data also shows that addicts often come to concentrate their hustling efforts in particular types of crime—that is, most addicts develop a main hustle. The findings also suggest that the process of selecting a particular hustle might be a more considered one than priorly believed. In addition, the study shows the main hustles of addicts to be closely related to their feelings of self-esteem. The relative sense of worth that addicts have about themselves appears to be a reflection of how social status is differentially attributed in the heroin world.