Alcohol, drugs and crime : a study of juveniles in detention

Jeremy Prichard and Jason Payne
ISBN 0 642 53891 3 ; ISSN 1326-6004
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology: 2005
(Research and public policy series, no. 67)

Chapter 1: Overview of substance use among juveniles in Australia

• Introduction
• National indicators of juvenile drug use
• Summary

Introduction

This report is the final report from the Drug Use Careers of Offenders (DUCO) research project managed by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC). DUCO has interviewed incarcerated adults and juveniles in detention centres. The primarily focus has been on the relationships between criminal careers and alcohol and drug use while considering other risk factors, including family drug use, childhood exposure to violence and mental health. The first two phases of the study focused on adult males and adult females. The results of these studies have been released (Makkai & Payne 2003; Johnson 2004). This report summarises the results of the third phase, which concentrated on juveniles in detention.

It is almost axiomatic to state that substance abuse is considered to be a major contributing factor to crime (Chaiken & Chaiken 1990). Estimates of the cost of alcohol and drug-related crime to the Australian community range from $1.96 billion (Mayhew 2003) to over $4 billion per year (Collins & Lapsley 2002). The cost of both illicit and licit drug use in 1998/99 was placed at $34.4 billion (Collins & Lapsley 2002).

Australian governments have responded to increased community concerns over the harms caused by drugs with the development of the National Drug Strategy (NDS). The NDS has drawn on bipartisan political support, the cooperation of state and federal governments and involvement from the non-government sector. Among other things, core NDS strategies attempt to prevent the uptake of harmful drug use and reduce the harmful effects of illicit and licit drug use. A major aspect of the NDS is the Australian Government's National Illicit Drug Strategy (NIDS). Initiatives funded under NIDS include DUCO and the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA), also managed by the AIC. DUCO and DUMA represent the only cross-jurisdictional studies of the relationships between crime and drug abuse.

Prevention of the onset of drug use is a clear priority in current policy strategies. It is listed as the first of eight priorities in the 2004-2009 NDS. Similarly, the latest phase of NIDS, unveiled in 2003-04, highlighted the importance of research into prevention. Prevention refers not only to the prevention or delay of the onset of drug use, but also the reduction of harm associated with drug use (Loxley et al. 2004). In recent years, various prevention strategies have been centred nationally on interventions for children and young people, as evidenced by reports such as Pathways to Prevention (National Crime Prevention 1999) and The Prevention of Substance Use, Risk and Harm in Australia (Loxley et al. 2004). The importance of preventing juvenile drug use cannot be overstated considering its links with deviancy and adult substance abuse, as well as serious physical and mental health problems (Department of Juvenile Justice, 2003; McGee et al. 2000). Arguably, there is more at stake in developing effective prevention strategies for youth due to the special criminogenic risks associated with juveniles' contact with the criminal justice system and juvenile incarceration (Farrington 1977; Kraus 1978).

Given the emphasis on prevention it is surprising that, to date, knowledge on young offenders' drug use has been primarily based on overseas studies (see for example Pudney 2002; Killias & Ribeaud 1999). Comparatively little research has been conducted nationally, with notable exceptions including work by Putnins (2001) and Lennings et al. (2003). Although the adult male and adult female DUCO reports include findings relating to early life experiences, clear advantages are to be gained from focusing on a juvenile population. For example:

• generational differences in habits of drug use have been found in several studies (Lynskey & Hall 1998);
• alcohol and drugs may act in a more potent fashion upon juveniles (LeBeau & Mozayani 2001);
• young offenders typically display higher risk-taking behaviours than adult offenders (Weiner & Wolfgang 1989); and
• cognitive and moral development may mean that the reasoning underlying juvenile crime and drug use is more simple than in adult crime (Prichard & Burton-Smith 2004; Kohlberg 1976).

In the past 13 years, most Australian juvenile justice systems have been significantly altered for the purposes of, among other things, reducing juvenile court appearances and, ultimately, juvenile detention rates (Daly & Hennessey 2001). As noted in Chapter 2, rates of juvenile detention have fallen steadily in recent years, meaning that youths who are detained represent the most acute offenders in their age group. This is because either they have committed a small number of grave crimes, or because they have very long criminal histories.

How have drug use, criminal behaviour and various risk factors interacted to affect the life trajectories of these young people? The DUCO juvenile study addresses this question with empirical evidence. The results suggest directions for how best to respond to juvenile detainees and how to tackle drug use among all Australian youth. The study is based on surveys with 371 youths aged 10 to 17. The size of the sample is similar to that used in the adult female study (n=470). (The adult male cohort numbered 2135 participants.) However, unlike the adult studies, the juvenile project incorporated detention centres from every state and territory, providing an important snapshot of youths from across the nation.

This monograph is structured for easy comparison with the DUCO adult female report. The next section of Chapter 1 provides a description of drug use in Australia among the general juvenile population and young detainees. Chapter 2 summarises literature on young people, drugs and crime. Later chapters present the responses of the juvenile participants regarding their drug use, offending behaviour and connections between the two. A separate chapter is assigned to Indigenous youth. However, unlike the DUCO adult female study, alcohol use is interwoven with analysis of substance abuse throughout the report. This is because alcohol use is illegal for persons under the age of 18. Chapter 8 discusses implications for preventing and responding to drug use among young offenders.

National indicators of juvenile drug use

Estimating the prevalence of any crime is always problematic. For example, official police statistics only represent crimes that have been detected and processed through the justice system, reflecting just a fraction of the total rates of crime, once undetected offences are considered.

There are a number of measures of juvenile drug use in Australia. Some of these are presented below to set an important foundation for the rest of the monograph. They give an indication of the extent of drug use among all young people in Australia, as well as youths who have entered the criminal justice system. Clearly, young offenders have much higher rates of drug use than others of the same age. This section of Chapter 1 also highlights a number of deficiencies in the national data currently available. Some are addressed by the DUCO juveniles study.

The key measures of Australian youths' drug use presented here include:

• the National Drug Strategy Household Survey;
• the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing survey of secondary students' drug use;
• levels of drug use among juveniles detained in police custody;
• Victorian police data on juvenile drug offences; and
• levels of drug use amongst juveniles in detention centres.

National Drug Strategy Household Survey

In the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, a random sample of Australians is interviewed at about three-year intervals on their drug use (AIHW 2005). In 2004, more than 29,000 people aged 12 years and over were interviewed on their drug consumption patterns, and their attitudes and behaviours concerning tobacco, drugs and alcohol.

The age bracket relevant to this report is those aged 12-19 years. Not surprisingly, alcohol was the most commonly used substance. The majority of the youths (37.6%) had consumed at least one full glass of alcohol in the 12 months preceding the survey. Figure 1.1 displays the proportion of youths who reported using other substances.

Cannabis was the most commonly reported illicit drug used by 12 to 19 year olds (13.5%), although it was not as widely used as alcohol. Ecstasy and amphetamines had similar rates of use, with just over three per cent of adolescents having used them in the year prior to the survey. About one per cent of youths reported using inhalants or cocaine. Heroin use was very low in this age bracket (0.2 per cent) and injecting drug use was reported by 0.6 per cent of young people.

Generally, adults reported higher rates of substance use in the year preceding the survey. More than 80 per cent reported drinking alcohol. Notably, marijuana use amongst those aged 20 to 29 was 26.7 per cent, and use of amphetamines stood at 21 per cent. The use of inhalants was reported by just 1.3 per cent.

Australian Government survey of secondary students' drug use

The Drug Strategy Branch of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing has reported on Australian secondary students' use of over-the-counter and illicit substance use (White & Hayman 2004a). The report was based on data collected in 2002 from 23,417 students aged 12 to 17 years in 363 schools across Australia. Although these data are similar to the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, they indicate different patterns of drug use amongst three age brackets: 12-13, 14-15 and 16-17.

Cannabis was the most commonly used illicit substance, with 25 per cent of all secondary students reporting use at some time in their life. This figure stood at 39 per cent for 16 to 17 year-olds. Four per cent of all secondary students had some experience with hallucinogens. The vast majority (93%) had never used hallucinogens or amphetamines. Similarly, only three per cent of students had ever used cocaine or opiates, such as heroin or morphine. Only five per cent of students had used ecstasy.

Figure 1.2 presents the rates of use by students in the three age brackets. Drug and alcohol use appears to increase as youths age, with one exception being the use of inhalants. Twenty-five per cent of students aged 12 to 13 had used inhalants, compared with 21 per cent of those in the 14-15 age bracket and 14 per cent of the 16-17 bracket.

A second report specifically described the use of alcohol by Australian students (White & Hayman 2004b). Experience with alcohol was high, with use becoming more common as age increased. Thirty-one per cent of 15-year-olds and 44 per cent of 17-year-olds consumed alcohol at levels higher than those recommended by National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines. Spirits were the most common type of alcohol consumed by current drinkers of all persons 17 years or younger. Additionally:

• 46 per cent of all students saw themselves as non-drinkers;
• 25 per cent thought they were occasional drinkers; and
• 22 per cent identified as party drinkers.

Similar results were yielded from recent analyses of the Australian Temperament Project (Smart et al. 2004). Just under 2500 Victorian youths completed surveys in 1996, 1998 and 2000. Self-reported drug use in the 12 months preceding the survey increased across three age brackets (13-14, 15-16 and 17-18). All age brackets reported the same pattern; alcohol was used most commonly, followed by a much lower use of cannabis and very low rates of other illicit drug use. For example, 60 per cent of the 15-16 age group reported using alcohol and only 13 per cent reported using cannabis.

Levels of drug use amongst juveniles detained in police custody

Wei et al. (2003) conducted analyses on 439 juveniles who participated in DUMA from 1999 to 2002 in New South Wales and Queensland. The youths were aged 11 to 17 years, although the average age was 16, and the majority were aged 16 or 17 (68.4%). Urine tests are a more accurate gauge of recent drug use than self-reporting (McGregor & Makkai 2003). Juveniles' urine tests confirmed that many youths had used an illicit substance in the period before their arrest. In particular:

• 55 per cent tested positive to at least one drug;
• 19 per cent for two or more drugs;
• 48 per cent tested positive for cannabis;
• 12 per cent for opiates; and
• 11 per cent for amphetamines.

Victorian police data on juvenile drug offences

Currently, national statistics on offences committed by juveniles are not compiled by either the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) or the Australian Crime Commission. Although police annual reports and reports issued by some state government departments contain data on juvenile offences, there are problems with comparing these figures. Among other things, definitions of offences and units of count vary across jurisdictions. Further, although most jurisdictions classify juveniles as people aged between 10 and 17 years, the legislative definition in Victoria and Queensland is 10 to 16 years. The DUCO juveniles data will, at least, provide a nationally consistent summary of the types of offences committed by juveniles in detention.

Victorian police data provide the most detailed breakdown of drug offences committed by juveniles (Victoria Police 2003/04). In total, 556 youths were alleged to have committed drug offences in 2003. Of these offences, 482 (86.7%) related to personal use or possession. The remaining alleged offences concerned the cultivation, manufacture or trafficking of drugs. The alleged offenders were male in 81.5 per cent of cases. Figure 1.3 shows how the alleged offenders were processed by the police.

Figure 1.3 shows that in 46 per cent of cases, the Victorian police decided the matter was minor enough to warrant a caution. However, 52 per cent of alleged drug offences resulted in the youths' entry into the formal justice system.

Drug use among youths in detention centres

Rates of drug use by offenders in youth detention centres have been analysed by Putnins (2001), employing the South Australian subpopulation. Of 900 detained youths surveyed from 1994 to 1999, 91 per cent admitted using any of the listed substances during the month preceding their incarceration. The study compared these rates of use with juveniles in the general population. The general population sample of 2498 secondary students with an average age of 16 was interviewed in a separate national study (Letcher & White 1998; cited in Putnins 2001). Figure 1.4 shows the self-reported drug use one month prior to detention (detainees) and one month prior to the survey (students).

Clearly, while the use of alcohol was similar between the groups, the detainees reported markedly higher rates of use of all other substances. Putnins (2001) also asked the detained youths about their frequency of drug use (although similar data were not gathered from the student cohort). Ten per cent of the detainees reported using alcohol on a daily basis in the month prior to entering the detention centre. In contrast, four times as many (44%) reported daily marijuana use in the same period.

Similarly, a survey of 118 youths detained in Queensland asked youths to self-report the frequency with which they used different substances (Lennings & Pritchard 1999). The majority (61%) of detainees reported using cannabis 40 times or more in the month prior to detention. This was higher than alcohol, where 56 per cent of juveniles reported using 40 times or more in the month preceding detention. The frequency of amphetamine use was also high, with 18.7 per cent reporting use 40 times or more in the month before detention. With regard to 'ever use' of hard drugs, 64 per cent had tried hallucinogens, 47 per cent amphetamines and 35 per cent heroin. Overall, 42 per cent had injected drugs at least once.

Finally, Lennings et al. (2003) analysed drug use among 300 youth residents in nine detention centres in New South Wales. Youths were asked to self-report whether they had ever used substances. Results showed that 92 per cent had ever used cannabis and 56 per cent had used amphetamines. Rates of use of narcotics (50%) and hallucinogens (46%) were also very high. More than a quarter of the youths had tried ecstasy (27%) and 17 per cent reported using inhalants.

Summary

Drug use is widespread among young Australians. In the general population of youths, alcohol is the most commonly used substance. Cannabis use is far less common, and only small percentages of youths report trying harder drugs or inhalants. As juveniles get older they report trying drugs more often, although the opposite is true for inhalant use.

A national picture of the frequency with which youths are dealt with by the police for drug offences is unavailable. Recent Victorian data indicate that most drug-related offences concerning youths involve personal use or possession. More than half of all cases result in arrest or summons.

The studies of juvenile drug use paint a bleak picture of young offenders' behaviours in comparison to others the same age. In particular, Putnins's (2001) study highlights much higher self-reported rates of use amongst detainees. Overall, the other studies indicate that young offenders report significantly higher rates of drug use in a one-month period than non-offending juveniles report in a year.

Chapter 2 builds on this general description of drug use among juveniles. Considering national and international literature, it discusses where drug use fits into the complex issue of juvenile crime in more depth.