Further Examination of the Association Between Heavy Marijuana Use and Crime Among Youths Entering a Juvenile Detention Center

• NCJ Number: 114895
• Journal: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: (October-December 1987) Pages: 361-373
• Author(s): R Dembo; M Washburn; E D Wish; J Schmeidler; A Getreu; E Berry; L Williams; W R Blount
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, November, 1986.

Annotation

This 1986 study examined the feasibility and accuracy of voluntary drug urinalysis results and the relationships among demographic variables, physical and sexual abuse, and court referral history in a sample of 323 youth at a Florida detention center.

Abstract

Data for 70 detainees were incomplete, thus main analyses focus on only 252 youth. Overall, 19 to 39 percent of the 323 youth reported physical abuse and 20 percent reported sexual victimization experiences. Voluntary participation rates were high (90 percent or more), but cooperation is likely to be greatest in nonadversarial, confidental circumstances where youth believe in the value of urinalysis. In such circumstances, there is a respectable correspondence between urinalysis results and self-reported marijuana/hash hish use. Youths whose urine tests were drug positive for marijuana/hash hish had a significantly larger number of referrals for nondrug felony offenses than did drug-negative youth, while youth who tested drug negative but reported drug use had similar court referral histories but higher sexual victimization rates. These two groups also were more likely to be older and white than youth who tested drug-negative and denied marijuana/hash hish use. Results suggest the utility of both voluntary urinalysis and self-report drug use data and have implications for practice and future research. 4 tables, 2 notes, and 38 references.