Relationship Between Cocaine Use, Drug Sales, and Other Delinquency Among a Cohort of High-Risk Youths Over Time (From Drugs and Violence: Causes, Correlates, and Consequences, P 112-135, 1990, Mario De La Rosa, Elizabeth Y Lambert, Bernard Gropper, eds. -- See NCJ-128781)

• NCJ Number: 128787
• Author(s): R Dembo; L Williams; W Wothke; J Schmeidler; A Getreu; E Berry; E D Wish; C Christensen
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 24 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-IJ-CX-0050; 87-JN-CX-0008
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services; Superintendent of Documents
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Information from a group of high-risk youths held in a regional detention center in Tampa, Fla. indicate that involvement in drug sales is significantly and positively related to both violent and nonviolent crimes.

Abstract

Initial interview data were gathered from 399 youths admitted to the detention center. Followup interviews were conducted with 305 youths and included 210 youths reinterviewed in the community or in a detention center following arrest or admission by court order. Voluntary urine specimens were collected from 201 of these youths, mostly white males, who became the focus of the study. Their average age was 16. Results showed a persistent relationship between drug sales and cocaine use over time and indicated the need for serious treatment intervention. Efforts to make available socially and personally rewarding educational and occupational options are also needed with early intervention having the greatest chance of success. Figures and 40 references