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Introduction

This report is the second in a series on youth entering detention in Texas Youth Commission (TYC) facilities, and presents descriptive information gathered from interviews with 945 youth aged 10-17 entering TYC in 1989. The youth were interviewed at length about their criminal careers as well as about their present and past substance use. They were also asked a variety of questions about their families, peers, school experiences and feelings about themselves. This report is a follow-up to the earlier report Substance Use Among Youth Entering Texas Youth Commission Reception Facilities, 1989: First Report (Fredlund 1990), which primarily discussed the substance use and sociodemographic background of these youth. The present report focuses on the criminal careers of the youth, and also examines the relationship between their delinquency and substance use. Because this sample consists of youth who have been arrested and detained for at least one serious crime, no inferences should be drawn about the relationship between drugs and crime in the general population of youth this age.

The substance use patterns of the TYC population are summarized below and compared, where possible, to information from the Survey of Youth in Custody, a nationally-representative survey of youth aged 11-17 in long-term, state-operated juvenile institutions (Bureau of Justice Statistics 1987).

• In 1989, 91 percent of youth entering TYC had drunk alcohol in their lifetimes, and 85 percent had done so in their last year before coming to TYC. This figure is slightly higher than the 76 percent of youth from the national study who drank in the preceding year.
  




• The national study reports that 55 percent of the youth in detention nationwide drank alcohol regularly (one or more times per week) in the year before admission.
• 81 percent of the youth entering TYC had used illicit substances in their lifetimes; this figure is identical to the national figure of 81 percent of youth in detention aged 11-17.
• 51 percent of TYC youth had used an illicit substance within their last month on the street, which compares to 57 percent for the youth in detention surveyed nationally.
• In general, illicit drug use reported by TYC youth in 1989 was slightly lower than use reported by youth in the 1987 national survey.
• The small differences found in current prevalence of alcohol and drugs between the TYC survey and the national survey might represent a true rise in past-month alcohol use and decline in past-month drug use from 1987 to 1989, or might be due to methodological or demographic differences in the two surveys (for example, the TYC sample was younger and more heavily Hispanic than the national sample).

• Among youth entering TYC, the median age at first use of illegal drugs was between 12 and 13; 17 percent reported having first used before age 10 and another 18 percent between ages 10 and 11.
• Ages at first use were comparable, although very slightly younger, in the national survey.

• 67 percent of the youth received some illegal income weekly during their last year on the streets. Sources of illegal income were primarily drug sales and robbery.
• On average, TYC youth recalled having committed their first illegal act at age 12-and-a-half.
• Almost one-half of TYC youth said their first illegal act was breaking and entering or robbery.
• 83 percent of the youth had been arrested at least once before being assigned to TYC. Their average number of previous arrests was six and their average age at first arrest was just under 13 years old.
• One-half or more of the youth reported that they had committed the following offenses: breaking and entering, auto theft, buying or receiving stolen goods, gang fighting, physical assault, drug selling, carrying a hidden weapon, shoplifting, damaging or destroying property, and stealing.

• Almost 40 percent of the youth had used alcohol or drugs in the 24 hours preceding the crime for which they were sent to TYC (the "instant offense"). Youth who were sent to TYC on a charge of breaking and entering or robbery were most likely to have been under the influence of a substance at the time they committed that offense.
• TYC youth reported that 22 percent of their past offenses had been committed under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and 10 percent of their offenses had been committed during attempts to obtain drugs or money for drugs.
• Youth who had used illicit drugs in the 24 hours preceding their instant offense were MORE likely than those who had drunk alcohol or those who had not used any substance at all to have been arrested for breaking and entering, and they were LESS likely than either alcohol drinkers or non-substance-users to have been arrested for physical assault.
• 35 percent of TYC youth said that drugs had been somehow involved in their instant offense. About one-third of them had been arrested for drug sales or possession.

On the basis of the predominant types of crimes they reported having committed over their lifetimes, youth were classified into nine distinguishing groups.

• Approximately 42 percent of TYC youth were "generalist offenders" (which means they committed a wide variety of types of crime, most of which did not involve serious violence) and were relatively light substance users.
• Almost 40 percent of TYC youth were classified as primarily property offenders (petty or major thieves). About one-half of them had little history of violence while the other one-half were to some degree violent. Their substance use patterns varied.
• About 14 percent of TYC youth were classified as primarily drug sellers. They were not extensively violent, and they tended to be heavy alcohol drinkers.
• A small number of youth (3 percent) were very violent offenders who were also likely to report heavy substance use.
• When looking at background factors that are related to violence, drug selling and substance use, three factors emerge as the most highly associated among TYC youth: irregular school attendance, low interaction with their families, and drug use of the youthsı parents.

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