Cocaine Use and Criminal Activities Among Hispanic Juvenile Delinquents in Florida (From Drugs in Hispanic Communities, 1990, P 55-73, Ronald Glic, Joan Moore, eds. -- See NCJ-133768)

• NCJ Number: 133771
• Author(s): F I Soriano; M R De La Rosa
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Rutgers University Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter reports preliminary data on the use of cocaine and involvement in criminal activities among a nonprobability sample of 391 low-income Hispanic, black, and white "serious" delinquent adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 in the Miami-Dade County, Florida area.

Abstract

Hispanic and black juvenile delinquents were more likely to be heavily involved with criminal activities and drug abuse than whites. Hispanic juveniles were more involved with cocaine and its derivatives, particularly crack, than either blacks or whites. Hispanics were as likely, if not more likely than at least the white juveniles, to be involved with illegal activities such as drug sales, theft, prostitution, and robbery. At the time of the survey in 1986 and 1987, 77 percent of Hispanics were using cocaine on a daily basis, compared to 46 percent of white and 67 percent of black juveniles in the study. Hispanics were the least likely to ever have sought treatment for drug or alcohol problems. 2 notes and 3 tables