What are the unique treatment needs of juveniles in the criminal justice system?
In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of juveniles with substance abuse problems involved in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. From 1986 to 1996, drug-related juvenile incarcerations increased nearly threefold. In 2002, about 60 percent of detained boys and nearly half of the girls tested positive for drug use. The number of juvenile court cases involving drug offenses more than doubled between 1993 and 1998, and 116,781 adolescents under the age of 18 were arrested for drug violations in 2002. One study found that about one-half of both male and female juvenile detainees met criteria for a substance use disorder (Teplin, Abram, McClelland, et al., 2002).
