Nonaddictive Drug Use and Delinquency: A Longitudinal Analysis (From Drug Use and Crime: Report of the Panel on Drug Use and Criminal Behavior, Appendix; Research Triangle Institute, 1976, P 325-350)

• NCJ Number: 162185
• Author(s): L D Johnston; P M O'Malley; L K Eveland
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: RTI International
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This study uses longitudinal measures of both drug use and delinquent behavior, enabling researchers to examine the cross-time relationships between these variables.

Abstract

This study of the drugs-crime connection interviewed a national sample of young men ages 15 to 23 on the following questions: (1) How strong is the relationship between illicit drug use and other illegal activities? (2) Does illicit drug use lead to an increase or decrease in subsequent delinquency? (3) Does delinquency predict to later drug use? and (4) Is illicit drug use associated with specific types of crimes? It should be noted that the type of illicit drug use examined in this study is nonaddictive use. Among the most important findings to emerge from this study are: (1) Illicit drug use was related positively and strongly to other forms of illegal behavior. (2) The greater an individual's involvement with drugs, the higher the expected level of delinquency. (3) Crimes against property are considerably more related to illicit drug use than are crimes against persons. (4) Young men who use only marijuana are lower than the other drug-using groups on indices of delinquency. Finally, evidence from this study does not support the hypothesis that drug use causes other types of delinquency. Tables, figures, footnotes, references