Correlation Between Alcohol, Drugs and Youth Crime
Is there a correlation between the use of alcohol and drugs and youth crime? Many have asked this question in an effort to find the cause of youth crime and perhaps a way to prevent it. Many believe that drugs and alcohol are, in some cases, related to youth crime; such as selling drugs, break and enter or robbery in order to have funds to be able to purchase drugs and alcohol. This can be due to the media's representation of youth crime, as well as youth drug and alcohol use. Youth crime makes up only a small percentage of the overall crime rate. However, the media sensationalizes extreme cases of youth crime (i.e. Columbine), which in turn gives the public a skewed perception of how often youth crime actually occurs. What leads people to believe that alcohol and drugs cause youth crime is that often these extreme, yet rare, cases of youth crime do involve the use of alcohol and/or drugs. If the media is the only method through which people obtain their information on youth crime, they will receive a bias picture of youth crime, as well as the use of alcohol and drugs by youth. However, no research has found that substance abuse is the sole cause of delinquency but rather one issue among many others.
However, they found no evidence that drug use causes crime. Dembo and Williams (1991) also found that younger youths committed more crime than older youths did. Some researchers offer possible explanations for the correlation between delinquency and the use of drugs and alcohol. This finding suggests that as some adolescent age they cease their involvement in crime. An example that this researcher noted is that street youths that take part in robberies are less likely to be heavy marijuana users. Secondary prevention targets young people who are considered at risk of becoming involved with drugs, while tertiary prevention targets young people who have already demonstrated problems with drugs, one of these problems being delinquency (Greenwood, 1992). Drug use, particularly the use of cocaine, is highly correlated with being charged for property offences and violent offences (Harrison & Gfroerer, 1992). According to a sample of youths that participated in a self-reported study (regarding substance abuse and crime) delinquency is concentrated among only a small number of young people (Johnson & Wish, 1991). According to Baron (1999), robbery may not be attractive to street youths because robberies committed on the streets are usually caused by revenge; attempts to get back material goods that is owed or the final confrontation of many arguments and fights. Research has found that with addiction criminal behavior increases, while arrests, particularly for drug offences and property offences, decrease with a decline in drug use (Dembo & Williams, 1991). A study by Johnson and Walsh (1991) has shown that there is a connection between drug and alcohol use and crime among young people. Primary prevention programs attempt to delay, reduce and most of all prevent young people who have never had experience with drugs. Unemployment is a factor that was identified as contributing to street youths use of alcohol. No research has demonstrated that this explanation applies to alcohol and cannabis, presumably because of the low cost of both these substances. This means that this particular crime is in many cases not very attractive for someone tying to make money.
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