Examining the Coevolution of Drug Use Variety and Different Types of Offending Frequency Among Justice-Involved Adolescents

Published date01 July 2021
DOI10.1177/00220426211002261
Date01 July 2021
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/00220426211002261
Journal of Drug Issues
2021, Vol. 51(3) 547 –565
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/00220426211002261
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Article
Examining the Coevolution of Drug
Use Variety and Different Types
of Offending Frequency Among
Justice-Involved Adolescents
Benjamin T. Kuettel1
Abstract
Past research demonstrates a strong link between drug use and crime among justice-involved
adolescents, yet little is known about the joint development between drug use variety and
various types of criminal offending frequencies from adolescence to young adulthood. Using
a sample of male adolescent offenders (N = 842), this article examines the coevolution of
drug use variety and three separate types of offending frequencies. First, four group-based
trajectory models identify unique group developmental patterns for drug use variety, drug
sales offending, property offending, and violent offending. Next, three dual-trajectory models
examine the coevolution between drug use variety and each type of criminal offending. Findings
reveal a general pattern of desistance for both drug use and offending, while also illustrating
notable variability in group trajectory patterns for drug use variety and criminal behavior. This
article concludes that adolescents with elevated drug use variety make up a large proportion of
frequent offenders.
Keywords
adolescence, criminal behavior, life course, substance use, trajectories
Introduction
This article provides evidence on the following question: How does drug use variety (e.g., no drug
use, single-drug use, multiple drug use) and various types of offending frequencies coevolve from
adolescence to young adulthood among a sample of justice-involved adolescents? A common
belief is that more drug use leads to more crime. However, does the drug–crime link reflect a
generic association where more drug use inevitably leads to more crime, or are particular types of
offenses more likely to increase in frequency alongside greater drug use variety? Given that drug
involvement and criminal offending emerge from processes that unfold gradually over periods of
the life course rather than from static events, research may benefit from exploring different devel-
opmental patterns that appear for drug use (Hser et al., 2007) and offending (Piquero, 2008), while
also focusing on the joint development of these outcomes during the transformational period of
adolescence to young adulthood (Sullivan & Hamilton, 2007; White, 2018). Group-based
1University at Albany, State University of New York, NY, USA
Corresponding Author:
Benjamin T. Kuettel, School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, State University of New York, 135 Western
Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, USA.
Email: bkuettel@albany.edu
1002261JODXXX10.1177/00220426211002261Journal of Drug IssuesKuettel
research-article2021
548 Journal of Drug Issues 51(3)
trajectory modeling is one approach that can identify unique developmental patterns for drug use
and criminal offending (Nagin, 2005). By using a group-based trajectory approach, individual-
level developmental heterogeneity can be represented in the form of clusters of similar adolescents
who follow distinct group trajectory patterns for a given outcome. Furthermore, utilizing dual-
trajectory modeling on drug use variety and crime frequency broken down by offense type can
reveal a more precise description of trajectory group membership across these related outcomes.
Measuring pathways into and out of both crime and drug use, and the developmental linkages
between these outcomes can provide key information that elucidates our understanding of the
drug–crime link during the critical period of adolescence to young adulthood in the life course.
The Drug–Crime Link
Extensive research shows a strong and consistent correlation between drug use and crime
(Bennett et al., 2008; Huizinga et al., 1989; Menard et al., 2001; White & Gorman, 2000). A
majority of arrests in the United States are for drug-related offenses. In 2019, according to the
Unified Crime Report (UCR) administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there were
over 1.5 million arrests for drug law violations in the United States, which is the highest fre-
quency of arrests per charge category as reported by the UCR (Federal Bureau of Investigation,
2019). Compared with the general public, drug use is more common among offending popula-
tions. A 2009 Bureau of Justice Statistics survey found that roughly 55% of sentenced jail inmates
used drugs in the past month before their arrest compared with 12% of noncriminal adults in the
standardized general population who used drugs in the past month (Bronson et al., 2017, p. 12).
This 2009 Bureau of Justice Statistics survey also found that drug users who are convicted crimi-
nals make up an overall even proportion of offenders convicted for a wide range of crimes. The
survey discovered that 40% of violent offenders, 50% of property offenders, and 50% of drug
offenders reported using drugs at the time of their offense (Bronson et al., 2017, p. 7).
Prior research suggests that, as with criminal activity, initiation into substance use begins
around the period of adolescence (Huizinga et al., 1989; Menard et al., 2001; Van Kammen &
Loeber, 1994). Adolescence signifies a unique period of human development, as adolescents
rapidly undergo biological and cognitive changes, identity formation and transformations, shifts
in peer group affiliation, and access to new responsibilities such as employment or driving
(Crosnoe & Johnson, 2011). This period of rapid transformation in human development has led
some researchers to suggest that adolescents are particularly prone to experiment with risky
behaviors such as crime and substance abuse (Jessor, 1991, p. 598). Adolescent substance abus-
ers are more likely to experience negative consequences, including physical health harms like
drug overdose (Curtin et al., 2017), dangerous behaviors like driving under the influence (DUI;
McCarty & McCarthy, 2019), and mental health conditions such as depression or suicide (Schulte
& Hser, 2013). Generally, a small fraction of adolescent drug users represent the “heaviest”
(highest frequency and variety) of drug abusers, who are also the most “serious” justice-involved
offenders (Johnson et al., 1991).
Among serious adolescent offenders, common findings regarding their drug use and offending
emerge. In general, studies find that serious adolescent offenders (a) report a high rate of sub-
stance use and use a greater variety of drugs compared with the general population, (b) follow
common stages of substance use initiation identified in the general population of adolescents
(Kandel, 2002), (c) report a similar prevalence of drug use and offending, (d) gradually reduce
their rates of drug use and offending as they transition from adolescence to young adulthood, and
finally (e) there exists groups of adolescents in the population who follow distinct patterns of
drug use or offending from the period of adolescence to young adulthood (Blokland et al., 2005;
Laub & Sampson, 2003; Mulvey, Steinberg, et al., 2010; Piquero et al., 2002). Although studies
show that justice-involved adolescents often differ in their patterns of offending and drug use

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