Clinical, Social, and Neuropsychological Dimensions of the Intersection of Addiction and Criminality.

To examine the social cognitive processes underlying the relationship of addiction and criminality, we administered the Addiction Severity Index-CF (ASI-CF) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) to 35 participants (11 women) who had been released recently from jail or prison. ASI-CF revealed highest lifetime drug use for alcohol, followed by cannabis, cocaine, and heroin, with an average of 42 lifetime arrests in this ex-offender sample. The men and the women showed similar psychiatric histories marked by depression and anxiety, but the women had more lifetime problems with thinking than did the men, who had higher lifetime problems with hallucinations.