The Relationship of Problem Gambling to Criminal Behavior in a Sample of Canadian Male Federal Offenders |
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Authors: | Nigel E Turner Denise L Preston Crystal Saunders Steven McAvoy Umesh Jain |
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Institution: | (1) Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research Department, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada;(2) Correctional Service of Canada, Kingston, ON, Canada |
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Abstract: | This article examines the prevalence of moderate and severe problem gambling in a sample of 254 incarcerated Canadian male
federal offenders (completion rate of 39.0%). The prevalence of disordered gambling was measured using the PGSI, DSM-IV-TR,
and SOGS that yielded estimates of 9.4%, 6.3%, and 13.0%, respectively. Severe problem gamblers were significantly more likely
to have committed income producing offences, but were neither more nor less likely than other offenders to have committed
violent offences. The majority of severe problem gamblers (65.2%) and a fifth of the moderate problem gamblers (20.0%) reported
that their criminal activity was a result of their gambling (e.g., to pay off debts). Based on these findings there appears
to be a need to offer problem gambling treatment services to offenders in order to help them break the cycle of gambling,
debt and crime. |
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Keywords: | Problem gambling Prevalence Crime Corrections population |
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