Key findings from the Drug Use Careers of Juvenile Offenders study (2005)

Funded through the National Illicit Drug Strategy, the AIC has undertaken a major study into the drug use and offending careers of Australian prisoners. The results from surveys of adult males and females highlight the diversity and complexity of the offending and drug use histories of incarcerated adult offenders. This paper extends the Drug Use Careers of Offenders study (DUCO) and presents the key findings of the final component of the study - a survey conducted in Australia with young people incarcerated in juvenile detention centres. The study confirms that these young people have extensive offending and drug use histories, both in terms of violent and property crime, and regularly use alcohol, cannabis and, to a lesser extent, amphetamines. The majority of young people started drug use and offending at an early age, with drug use beginning before or around the same time as offending. As Australia's most chronic or serious young offenders are likely to be in detention centres, it is not surprising that many of the detainees had troubled home backgrounds and poor school results. The study indicates the need to target risk factors such as abuse, neglect and family drug use earlier in a child's life, as well as to have effective programs that address issues such as drug use, housing needs, skills development, individual and family support for chronic young offenders. Toni Makkai Director Whilst juvenile crime is a troubling phenomenon, with the rate of juvenile offending twice as high as rates for adults, the majority of young offenders desist from criminal activity as they mature into adulthood (AIC 2003). A small percentage of juveniles become serious recidivists who account for a large proportion of overall youth crime figures (Coumarelos 1994; cf Chen et al. 2005). In comparison with adult crime, less is known about the interrelationship between drugs and juvenile offending. It is not clear from research to date how well explanatory models of the drug-crime nexus apply to juveniles. A review of the relevant literature revealed some evidence to suggest that the use of hard drugs escalates juvenile offending, at least in relation to property crime. Different studies have concluded that juvenile crime usually precedes drug use. However, in general, adolescents may take multiple pathways through delinquency which at times may include drug use, criminality or both (see Prichard and Payne 2005 for a summary of the research literature). Drug use among Australian youths occurs in all socio-economic strata (AIHW 2005). Compared with others the same age, however, Australian juvenile detainees tend to (a) use drugs much more often, (b) use a wider range of drugs and (c) start using drugs and alcohol at an earlier age (Putnins 2001; Lennings et al. 2003; Lennings & Pritchard 1999). It is also clear that juvenile detainees frequently experience multiple risk factors in their lives, such as sexual abuse (Dembo et al. 1990), and familial drug abuse (Putnins 2001). About the DUCO juvenile sample The DUCO juvenile study involved faceto-face interviews with 371 people aged between 11 and 17 years who were sentenced to or remanded in detention in 2004. These youths included 25 females and 346 males with an average age of 16 years. In respect to both age and sex the sample was comparable with the most recent national census of juveniles in detention. It highlights that these people are more likely to be male and have potentially different offending profiles (Charlton & McCall 2004). However, over half of the juveniles (59%) identified themselves as Indigenous, a rate noticeably higher than the 2003 national estimate of 47 per cent (Charlton & McCaII 2004). The majority of juveniles (76%) had stopped attending school before they entered detention. The average age of leaving school was 14 years, and the highest grade completed was most likely to be grade eight, compared with grade 12 for the majority of Australian youths (SCRGSP 2005). …