Involvement in the Justice System ...............................................................................
Adolescents (ages 12 to 17) who have a lifetime
history of arrest are three times more likely to
engage in risky substance use or have addiction
compared with adolescents who have no arrest
record (60.1 percent vs. 19.8 percent).^90 They
are:
Twice as likely to be risky substance users
(24.5 percent vs. 13.7 percent); and
Five-and-a-half times as likely to have
addiction (35.6 percent vs. 6.2 percent).^91
Previous research by CASA Columbia has found
that 78.4 percent of 10- to 17-year olds who are
in juvenile justice systems are substance-
involved;* 92 52.4 percent of juvenile or youthful
offenders incarcerated in state prisons and local
jails meet clinical criteria for addiction involving
alcohol or other drugs.^93
Those ages 18 and older who have ever been
arrested are almost twice as likely to engage in
risky substance use or have addiction compared
to those with no arrest record (74.5 percent vs.
45.0 percent). More specifically, while they are
slightly more likely to be risky substance users
without having addiction (38.1 percent vs. 32.5
percent), they are three times as likely to meet
diagnostic criteria for addiction (36.4 percent vs.
12.5 percent).^94
- They were under the influence of alcohol or other
drugs while committing their crime, test positive for
drugs, are arrested for committing an alcohol or other
drug offense, admit having substance-related
problems or addiction or share some combination of
these characteristics.
Previous research by CASA Columbia found
that the majority (84.8 percent) of all inmates are
substance involved;† 64.5 percent of the inmate
population (nearly 1.5 million people) has
addiction involving alcohol or drugs other than
nicotine.‡ 95Consequences of Risky Substance Use and Untreated Addiction .....................................
A broad range of health and social consequences
result from risky substance use and addiction,
including those discussed above for special
populations.^96 Risky substance use and
addiction constitute the largest preventable
public health problems and the leading causes of
preventable death in the U.S.^97 Of the nearly 2.5
million deaths in 2009, an estimated minimum
of 578,819 were attributable to tobacco, alcohol
or other drugs.§ 98 (Table 3.8)† They had a history of using illicit drugs regularly,
met clinical criteria for addiction, were under the
influence of alcohol or other drugs when they
committed their crime, had a history of alcohol
treatment, were incarcerated for an alcohol or other
drug law violation, committed their offense to get
money to buy drugs or had some combination of
these characteristics.
‡ Due to data limitations, the estimated rate of
addiction in the adult inmate population does not
include nicotine dependence. However, other
research suggests that the rate of tobacco use in the
justice population is higher than in the general
population. For example, in 2005, 37.8 percent of
state inmates and 38.6 percent of federal inmates
smoked in the month of their arrest. In contrast, the
current smoking rate in the general population at that
time was approximately 10 percentage points lower
(24.9 percent).
§ These numbers do not reflect the share of deaths
from a wide range of other health conditions
attributable to risky substance use and addiction.