continued on page 3continued on page 2 Substance Involvement and the Trajectory of Criminal Offending in Young

ne of the most reliably-found results in criminology research is that persons who abuse alcohol or other drugs are also prone to criminal offending. Currently, it is unknown why the relationship between substance use and crime exists. In this study, researchers examined the short- and long-term effects of substance use on proneness to criminal behavior. Welte and colleagues investigated two research questions regarding substance use and criminal behavior in young males. The first research question addressed the influence of substance use on the trajectory of delinquency. The second research question addressed whether substance use and delinquency changed simultaneously. Data were obtained from 625 Buffalo, New York males aged 16 through 19 years, who were interviewed three times in 1992-93, 1994-95, and 1996-97. Findings • Regarding substance use and the trajectory of delinquency: Substance use has a significant effect on delinquency. The effect is different, however, depending on whether the delinquency is increasing or decreasing across the three interview periods.- Alcohol use, but not drug involvement, was found to predict the level of delinquency at the starting point of the study.- Delinquency peaked when the participants were experiencing consequences of drug use and a higher number of alcohol dependence symptoms