INTRODUCTION

Substance Use and Delinquency Among Youths Entering Texas Youth Commission Facilities: 1994 is one of a family of criminal justice studies undertaken by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse to examine patterns of substance use among high-risk populations including adult inmates, probationers, and TYC youths and to explore the relationship between substance use, crime, family dysfunction, and mental health. The Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University administered the survey in the field. Interviews with 1,030 youths ages 12-17 were conducted by trained interviewers from May 19, 1994 to November 17, 1994.

A majority of youths committed to TYC could be classified as substance dependent and in need of treatment. In addition, many had educational deficiencies and had been involved in gangs and selling drugs. Their family lives often included substance abuse and involvement with the criminal justice system as well as other indications of dysfunction. It is notable that 79% of the youths entering TYC facilities had close relatives with histories of serious criminal justice involvement. Moreover, 18% of these youths were already parents themselves and some had small children living at home when they were committed to TYC. A majority of TYC youths (70%) had siblings under the age of 18 living in homes with the same environmental influences.

These factors suggest there is a great possibility that a multigenerational cycle of maladjustment, substance use, and criminality exists and will continue unless there are effective programs that address the full range of problems these youths and their families face. Failure to break this cycle of dysfunction could have repercussions for many generations.

• 91% of the respondents were male and most were between the ages of 14-17 (Table 1).
• 16% of the TYC respondents were White, 39% were African American, and 41% were Hispanic.
• Only about one in five youths lived with both biological parents.
• 32% lived in female-headed households.
• 71% came from families receiving some type of income-qualified benefit and could be considered low-income.
• 25% of the teens entering TYC had already dropped out of school; another 38% were not at the grade level expected for their age.

• 45% of the TYC youths cited "crimes against persons" as the reason for their commitment to TYC (see Table 2).
• 36% were committed to TYC because of property crimes.
• 10% identified a drug-related offense as their reason for commitment to TYC.

Because the prevalence of use data in this report is based on self report, it is possible that some underreporting has occurred. Although a review of the literature shows that self-report data are fairly accurate,¹ a 1994 study of juvenile arrestees in 11 cities showed that recent use of illicit substances other than marijuana were greatly underreported, especially by African-American youths.²

• 83% of the sample had ever smoked; 39% smoked in their last month of freedom.

• 89% of TYC youths had ever used alcohol; 52% within their last month on the street.
• 26% of TYC teens were classified as heavy drinkers meaning they drank five or more drinks on five or more occasions during their last month of freedom.
• Males and females reported lifetime alcohol use at the same rate (89%), but females reported somewhat higher rates of current use than males (57% vs. 51%).
• 94% of Hispanics, 89% of Whites, and 86% of African Americans admitted lifetime alcohol use.
• White (56%) and Hispanic (55%) youths reported slightly higher rates of current alcohol use than African-American youths (48%).

• TYC youths who had used inhalants were almost exclusively volatile solvent abusers (e.g., paint, gasoline, toluene). Very few had any experience with anesthetics or nitrites.
• One-third of TYC youths admitted lifetime exposure to inhalants; 11% within their last month of freedom.
• Rates of lifetime and current use among White and Hispanic youths eclipsed those reported by African Americans. 17% of Whites and 15% of Hispanics reported current inhalant use, but only 5% of African-Americans admitted use of such substances during their last month on the street.
• 19% of current inhalant users said they normally used enough "to make them stagger and drop things," and 27% said they normally used enough "to make them nearly pass out."

• 89% of TYC teens admitted lifetime use of illicit drugs and 62% reported using one or more illegal drugs during their last month of freedom.

• Although lifetime marijuana use (88%) was about the same as lifetime alcohol use among TYC youths, they were more likely to have used marijuana (57%) than alcohol (52%) in their last month of freedom.
• First use of marijuana occurred at 12.4 years of age.
• Females were somewhat more likely than males to report lifetime use (87% vs. 82%) and current use (58% vs. 49%). This is a different pattern than found between male and female inmates and between males and females in the general population. Among those two populations, males reported higher lifetime and current marijuana use.
• Hispanic TYC youths reported the highest rates of lifetime marijuana use, but African-American youths were more likely to be past-month users. 92% of Hispanics, 87% of African Americans, and 83% of Whites admitted lifetime use of marijuana.
• Current marijuana use was similar among the racial/ethnic groups: 60% of African Americans, 56% of Hispanics and 55% of Whites claimed past-month use.
• 48% of current users reported that they used marijuana every day during their last month of freedom, which is higher than the rate for all other substances, except for alcohol.

• 36% of youths admitted lifetime use of powdered cocaine, and 14% reported past-month use.
• Lifetime cocaine use was highest among Hispanics (57%) and lowest among African Americans (13%). Whites had a lifetime prevalence rate of 48%.
• 95% of powdered cocaine users reported snorting the drug. Only 9% of lifetime users admitted ever injecting cocaine.

• 13% of the TYC youths had ever used crack cocaine, and 5% admitted past-month use.
• Females reported higher use of crack than did the males. Lifetime use among females was 18% vs. 13% for males; current use was 10% for females vs. 4% for males. This is similar to the pattern found among adult inmates.
• The respondents who had used crack reported first use at 14.3 years.
• African-American youths (5%) were much less likely than either Hispanic (19%) or White youths (18%) to report past-month crack use.
• Though crack cocaine is often publicized as a drug that is particularly prevalent in African-American inner city communities, the data from this survey suggest that this perception may be inaccurate for African-American adolescents. TYC youths reported crack use at much lower rates than adult inmates, and among youthful delinquents, Hispanics and Whites were much more likely to report crack use than African Americans.
• Although African-American teens were less likely to use crack, they were more likely to sell it. 70% of TYC African-American youths admitted selling crack at least once in their lives, and 42% claimed to have done so within their last month on the street. Lifetime rates for selling crack were almost the same for Whites and Hispanics at 27% and 28%, respectively, as were past-month rates at 15% and 14%.

• 17% of the teens entering TYC admitted lifetime upper use, and 4% reported past-month use.
• A larger proportion of White youths were lifetime (39%) and current upper users (8%) than Hispanic youths (20% and 4%), but African-American youths reported almost no experience with this class of drugs.

• 22% of TYC youths admitted lifetime downer use; 7% within their last month on the street.
• Females were more likely than males to be lifetime (27% vs. 21%) or current (9% vs. 6%) downer users.
• White youths (32%) were more likely to report lifetime downer use than Hispanic (22%) or African-American youths (18%). However, current use of downers was reported by White and Hispanic youths at identical rates (8%), whereas 5% of African-American youths admitted they had used downers in their last month on the street.

• Lifetime heroin use was reported by 8% of the sample; 2% reported use during the month prior to incarceration.
• The lifetime and current rates of heroin use among males entering TYC were the same as for the entire sample. Among females, however, the rates of use were greater: 12% of the females reported lifetime heroin use and 6% reported past-month use.
• The lifetime heroin users in this sample were more likely to report that they had snorted rather than injected heroin. 54% of the TYC lifetime heroin users reported they had snorted heroin, 36% had injected it, and 22% had smoked it.
• The heroin most commonly used by the TYC youths who had ever used heroin was Mexican Brown (42%), followed by Black Tar (34%) and China White (23%).
• Heroin use among TYC youths was strongly associated with race/ethnicity. Hispanic youths (12%) were more likely than White (8%) or African-Americans youths (5%) to report lifetime use of this drug. 3% of Hispanic, 2% of African-American and 1% of White youths reported heroin use during their last month on the street.

• Only 9% of the sample claimed they had ever used other opiates, which include morphine, Percodan, and codeine. 3% admitted using other opiates in their last month of freedom.
• Whites (21%) reported use of other opiates at much higher rates than African Americans (8%) or Hispanics (5%).

• 31% of TYC youths claimed lifetime experience with psychedelics, making this the third most widely used class of illicit substances following marijuana and cocaine.
• 11% reported past-month use of psychedelics.
• Whites reported lifetime (54%) and current use (23%) at much higher rates than Hispanics (33% lifetime, 9% current use) and African-Americans (19% lifetime, 8% current use).

• TYC youths used most substances at much greater rates than youths surveyed in Texas public schools, as shown in Table 4.
• Surprisingly, TYC youths used some substances at greater rates than adult inmates. For example, as shown in Table 5, TYC youths were almost twice as likely as adult inmates to report past-month use of any illicit drug and 3.5 times as likely to report past-month marijuana use.
• Compared to the 1989 TYC youths, the 1994 youths were more likely to be lifetime and current illicit drug users (Table 6). This increase is mainly attributable to the rise in marijuana use. Rates of use for all other illicit substance declined between 1989 and 1994, except for lifetime downer use. The largest declines were seen for crack.

• 73% of the adolescents entering TYC had substance problems; 59% could be considered substance dependent and in need of treatment.
• 34% of TYC youths were classified as alcohol dependent and 12% as alcohol abusers. Nearly all of these alcohol-dependent teens were also dependent on other drugs.
• 53% of the sample met the criteria for drug dependence and 17% were classified as drug abusers, which is less severe than dependence.
• 39% of the total sample identified marijuana as their most problematic drug of abuse. Cocaine, inhalants, and psychedelics also posed problems for a number of the teens.
• 20% of TYC youths had been in treatment, but an additional 38% were substance dependent and had never received treatment.

• As shown in Figure 1, TYC youths had higher rates of alcohol dependence, drug abuse, and drug dependence than the general Texas adult population and adult male and female inmates.
• Given the age of the TYC teens, there is reason for alarm about their rates of dependence and abuse‹this is a young population with higher rates of abuse and dependence than among adult inmates who were much more impaired by substance problems than the general population.

• TYC youths reported an average 8.2 arrests. 3% said they had been arrested "too many times to remember."
• These teens reported being placed in custody or detention five times. However, 22% of the sample had been in detention or custody only once before entering TYC.
• The three main activities which led to their first arrest were burglary (20%), auto theft (17%), and assault (15%).
• Substance-dependent youths reported being arrested at a significantly earlier age (12.6 years) as compared to non-dependents (13.1 years), and reported a significantly higher number of lifetime arrests (12.1 vs. 7.4 arrests).

• 64% of the TYC youths admitted selling drugs sometime in their lives. These adolescents were more likely to be African American (47%) than Hispanic (26%) or White (14%). Compared with the teens who had never sold drugs, they were more likely to have current or former gang-affiliations (60% vs. 41%) and more likely to be substance dependent (71% vs. 37%).
• 32% of lifetime drug sellers said that their illegal activities contributed to family income as compared to 8% of youths who had never sold drugs.
• Among those who had sold drugs, 18% said selling crack-cocaine was their most lucrative illegal activity whereas 50% said sales of drugs other than crack-cocaine provided most of their illegal incomes.

• 73% of the sample reported gangs were present in their neighborhoods.
• 57% said that one or more of their close friends had been seriously injured in gang-related violence and 52% reported that gang violence had claimed the life of at least one close friend.
• 61% of the TYC sample admitted wanting to join a gang at some time in their life. Most of these youths actually became gang members (53% of the total sample) at 13.3 years.
• Youths were most likely to cite a desire to "belong," "wanting to be friends," or "wanting popularity" as reasons for wanting to join gangs. However, the most frequently cited reason for actually joining a gang was "protection."
• Nearly all current and former gang-affiliated youth (96%) said their gangs had hand guns and a large majority said their gangs had rifles (87%) and/or assault rifles (83%).
• TYC youths who were gang members or former gang members reported more delinquent acts than non-gang members. For example, 69% of gang-affiliated youths said they had "shot at someone" compared to 36% of non-gang-affiliated youths. Similarly, 68% of those who had been involved with gangs reported "taking a weapon to school," compared to 38% of those who had never been involved with gangs.

• 32% of the TYC teens came from female-headed households and 28% came from households which included their mother and a stepfather. Less than 20% came from families which included both birth parents.
• 25% of African-American TYC youths were parents themselves as were 12% of White youths and 14% of Hispanic youths. In all, 18% of TYC teens had children.
• More Whites (65%) reported familial substance use than African Americans (45%) or Hispanics (43%). As expected, substance-dependent teens reported familial substance use at higher rates than non-dependent teens and those who had sold drugs reported higher rates of familial substance use than those who had never been involved in selling drugs.
• 19% of TYC teens said they thought their parents used marijuana.
• 26% of TYC youths claimed that their families received income from illegal activities.
• One-fourth of TYC teens said they had been beaten, 9% had been sexually abused, and 22% had experienced emotional abuse.
• As shown in Figure 2, TYC females were much more likely to report these problems than males.
• 92% reported most or some of their friends smoked marijuana; 66% said most or some of their friends belonged to gangs; and 45% said their friends committed crimes for drugs.
• 96% reported having had sexual intercourse at least once, with substance-dependent teens being more likely to report having had sex (98%) than non-substance-dependent teens (92%).
• In their last month of freedom 44% of the TYC youths reported having unprotected sex.

• 44% of TYC youths had received one or more forms of mental health treatment.
• 41% of TYC youths had been treated by a mental health professional, 20% had received medication for a mental health-related problem, and 15% had been hospitalized for a mental health problem.
• 67% of TYC females had undergone some form of mental health treatment compared to 41% of males.
• Substance-dependent youths (65%) were twice as likely as non-dependent youths (32%) to report a history of mental health treatment.

The need for treatment among the TYC population is clear, especially in light of the number of studies that have demonstrated the link between criminal activity and addiction. This study shows that delinquency and substance use begins early in these adolescentsą lives, usually around the age of 12. Many of these teens, especially the females, have family and mental health problems which must also be addressed. The need for alternative sanctions and comprehensive treatment for these offenders is extremely important if we are to address the enormous social and economic costs they present to society.

Effective intervention early in their delinquency careers would be the ideal method of dealing with these youths to cut short their criminal and drug-using careers as would community-based programs targeting high-risk children before age 12. The high proportion of TYC youths involved in gangs and violent crimes suggests a need for gang and violence prevention and intervention to be included with substance use prevention and intervention.

There are a number of innovative intervention programs in existence including one in which juvenile probationers were involved in recreation, education, and job readiness programs and received ongoing counseling and medical care as needed in addition to traditional probation supervision. In this program, the recidivism rate was only 7% for probationers compared to 35% of other violent juveniles.³

Another alternative would be treatment in a therapeutic community instead of incarceration. A therapeutic community is a long-term residential treatment program which assumes that prosocial behavior must be learned. Because these adolescents usually return to the same environment in which they were involved prior to entering TYC, an aftercare component is much needed. Maintaining the positive impact of treatment requires an extended network of positive role models and peers who can provide support and it means involving the families of the adolescents in treatment and providing education and/or vocational training as well.

Although young women constitute a small percentage of TYC commitments, they require programs and treatment focusing on their many problems. They tend to use marijuana, cocaine, crack, and heroin at higher rates than the TYC males and they are more likely to have children in their care.

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