Relationship Between Drug Use and Crime Among Adolescents (From Drug Use and Crime: Report of the Panel on Drug Use and Criminal Behavior, P 297-321, 1976)

• NCJ Number: 155029
• Author(s): D S Elliott; A R Ageton
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 25 pages
• Corporate Author: RTI International
• Sale Source: RTI International
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This document reviews the empirical evidence relative to the relationship between drug use and crime among youth between the ages of 10 and 17 years.

Abstract

The three postulated causal relationships that have been suggested in the literature hold that drug use leads to crime, crime leads to drug use, and drug use and crime are both manifestations of a general orientation toward deviance or delinquency. This review focuses on studies of officially defined drug users and delinquents and studies involving normal youth populations. Issues that remain problematic and should have high priority for future research include drug use and delinquent behavior, delinquency preceding drug use, delinquency level after onset of drug use, causal models of drug use and delinquency, and drug use-delinquency relationships for specific drugs. 30 references