NCJ Number
198573
Journal
Addiction Volume: 97 Issue: Supplement 1 Dated: December 2002 Pages: 35-45
Date Published
December 2002
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article details the characteristics and substance abuse treatment experiences of various juvenile offenders.
Abstract
Focusing on the experiences of juvenile offenders, this article describes the characteristics and different substance abuse treatments of 600 adolescents from the Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) Project. Noting that recent trends in adolescent drug use and American drug enforcement have led to an unprecedented demand for substance abuse treatment for juvenile offenders with marijuana problems, the authors argue that this study sought to address whether adolescents receiving specialized outpatient treatments for marijuana problems would reflect that adolescents reporting recent criminal behavior exhibited greater substance use frequency, more substance use problems, greater psychological and social risks, and less favorable treatment outcomes. The article describes the quasi-experimental design used in this study, and discusses the 600 adolescent participants in the multi-site CYT Project. Located in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois, and Florida, the CYT project focuses on five manual-driven outpatient treatments for adolescents abusing marijuana. Exploring reported substance use frequency, substance use problems, psychological and social risk factors, and CYT outcomes among the 600 program participants, and using multivariate analysis, the authors found that adolescents reporting involvement with the criminal justice system were comparable to adolescents reporting no legal involvement. Furthermore, the authors found that adolescents reporting past criminal activity presented with higher degrees of substance use, more substance use problems, and greater rates of psychological and environmental risks. The authors conclude that juvenile offenders across the board would benefit from the CYT Project. Tables, figures, references