Juvenile drug traffickers: Characterization and substance use patterns

Abstract

Drug trafficking has become one of the dominant issues facing the criminal justice system. Juveniles involved in drug trafficking have been reported to be far more likely to be seriously immersed in substance abuse and delinquent behavior than nonsellers. The primary aim of the present study was to examine the substance use patterns of juveniles incarcerated for drug trafficking offenses in the Commonwealth of Virginia (N = 240). A second goal of the study was to characterize juvenile drug traffickers based upon additional information pertaining to their delinquent, social, psychological, educational and medical histories. For this purpose, a demographic comparison group was generated (N = 433). The results indicated that the most frequently sold substance was cocaine (93%), either powdered or crack, while alcohol and marijuana were the drugs most often used by the juvenile drug traffickers. The juvenile drug traffickers were associated with lower levels of aggressivity, violence and delinquency when compared to other incarcerated juveniles from their community. In addition, the juvenile drug traffickers were characterized by higher ratings in several areas which included social and psychological functioning. Areas that did not correlate well with drug trafficking were physical health, intellectual functioning and academic achievement. The results of this study indicatedthatjuveniledrug traffickers tend not to use the drugs that they sell, and generally present as higherfunctioning and better adjusted in almost every area evaluated, when compared to their incarcerated delinquent peers.