NCJ Number
174954
Journal
Drugs: Education Volume: evention and Policy Issue: Dated: Pages: 3 (November 1998)-243
Date Published
1998
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Evidence suggests that young offenders and young drug users are overlapping populations but that associations between crime and drug use by young people probably exist because of shared antecedents of drug use and delinquency rather than because drug use causes offending behavior in any simple sense.
Abstract
Research indicates drug use by young people has been increasing steadily over the past decade. Given the amount of political attention devoted to drug use and crime, however, there is relatively little evidence on the extent and nature of drug use among people in contact with the criminal justice system. Nonetheless, available evidence suggests drug use prevalence rates among young people are high, levels of drug use by individual offenders are high, and young offenders are at greater risk of developing harmful drug use patterns. Since drug use prevalence rates appear to be higher among young offenders, the juvenile justice system provides a potentially good location for intervention and treatment. The response of the juvenile justice system in England and Wales to drug-using young offenders is described, with specific drug prevention examples in two localities cited. 37 references and 2 notes