Substance Use and Delinquent Behavior Among Serious Adolescent Offenders

December 15, 2010 A report by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention found that serious or chronic juvenile offenders are more likely than other juvenile offenders to be substance users and to qualify as having substance use disorders. A longitudinal study of 1,300 juvenile offenders (all had been found guilty of at least one felony-level offense) found that 37% of males and 35% of females in the group met clinical criteria for drug or alcohol abuse or dependence. About 15% of the juveniles in the group had been convicted of a drug-related offense; within this . . .