Abstract
This article examines relationships between local drug policy (as represented by prosecutor-reported case outcomes for first-offender juvenile marijuana possession cases) and youth self-reported marijuana use, perceived risk, and disapproval. Interviews with prosecutors and surveys of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students in the United States were conducted in 2000. Analyses include data from 97 prosecutors and students from 127 schools in 40 states. Results indicate significant relationships between local drug policy and youth marijuana use and attitudes. In general, more-severe dispositions are associated with less marijuana use, higher disapproval rates, and increased perceptions of great risk. Associations primarily appear to be specific to marijuana-related outcomes. Results are discussed within the framework of both deterrence and broader social norms regarding substance use.
| Alcohol Epidemiology Program. (2000). Alcohol policies in the United States: Highlights from 50 states. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota. | |
| Bachman, J.G., Johnston, L.D., & O’Malley, P.M. (1998). Explaining recent increases in students’ marijuana use: Impacts of perceived risks and disapproval, 1976 though 1996. American Journal of Public Health, 88(6), 887-892. Crossref, Medline | |
| Bachman, J.G., Johnston, L.D., O’Malley, P.M., & Schulenberg, J.E. (2006). The Monitoring the Future project after 32 years: Design and procedures. (Monitoring the Future Occasional Paper No. 64) Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research. | |
| Backstrom, J.C. ( 2000). The expanding role of the prosecutor in juvenile justice . Retrieved October 24, 2007, from http://www.co.dakota.mn.us/Departments/Attorney/Publications/ExpandRoleProsecutorJuvJustice.htm | |
| Bartollas, C. ( 2006). Juvenile delinquency (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson/A&B. | |
| Becker, G.S. ( 1968). Crime and punishment: An economic approach. The Journal of Political Economy, 76(2), 169-217. Crossref | |
| Bernburg, J.G., & Krohn, M.D. ( 2003). Labeling, life chances, and adult crime: The direct and indirect effects of official intervention in adolescence on crime in early adulthood. Criminology, 41(4), 1287-1318. Crossref | |
| Berndt, B. ( 2003, March). Ritual and racism: A social-historical analysis of the crack sentencing guidelines. Crime, Law & Social Change, 39(2), 175-192. Crossref | |
| Bishop, D.M., & Frazier, C.E. ( 1996). The transfer of juveniles to criminal court: Does it make a difference? Crime & Delinquency, 42(2), 171-192. Link | |
| Bishop, D.M., Frazier, C.E., & Henretta, J.C. (1989). Prosecutorial waiver: Case study of a questionable reform. Crime & Delinquency , 35(2), 179-201. Link | |
| Boulard, G. ( 2005). The meth menace. State Legislatures , 31(5), 14-18. Medline | |
| Bridges, G.A., Crutchfield, R.D., & Simpson, E.E. ( 1987). Crime, social structure and criminal punishment: White and non-White rates of imprisonment. Social Problems , 34, 345-361. Crossref | |
| Brook, J.S., Nomura, C., & Cohen, P. ( 1989). A network of influences on adolescent drug involvement: Neighborhood, school, peer, and family. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 115, 123-145. Medline | |
| Brown, T.N., Schulenberg, J., Bachman, J.G., O’Malley, P.M., & Johnston, L.D. (2001). Are risk and protective factors for substance use consistent across historical time? National data from the high school classes of 1976 through 1997. Prevention Science, 2(1), 29-43. Crossref, Medline | |
| Chatwin, C. ( 2003). Drug policy developments within the European Union. British Journal of Criminology, 43, 567-582. | |
| Chriqui, J.F., Terry-McElrath, Y., McBride, D.C., & Bates, H. (in preparation). Exploring the linkages between state policy context and local prosecutorial decision-making: The case of marijuana. | |
| Colker, A.C. ( 2004, April 1). California’s Proposition 36 and other state diversion programs: Moving drug offenders out of prison and into treatment . Health Policy Tracking Service [Issue Brief]. Retrieved October 24, 2007, from http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/capropib.htm | |
| Delva, J., Wallace, J.M., Jr., O’Malley, P.M., Bachman, J.G., Johnston, L.D., & Schulenberg, J.E. (2005). The epidemiology of alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine use among Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and other Latin American eighth-grade students in the United States: 1991-2002 . American Journal of Public Health, 95(4), 696-702. Crossref, Medline | |
| Des Jarlais, D.C. ( 2000). Prospects for a public health perspective on psychoactive drug use. American Journal of Public Health, 90, 335-337. Crossref, Medline | |
| Dorsey, T.L., Zawitz, M.W., & Middleton, P. ( 2005). Drugs and crime facts (NCJ 165148). Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. | |
| Ellis, A. ( 2003). A deterrence theory of punishment. Philosophical Quarterly, 53(212), 337-351. Crossref | |
| Frazier, C.E., Bishop, D.M., & Henretta, J.C. (1992). The social context of race differentials in juvenile justice dispositions. Sociological Quarterly, 33, 447-458. Crossref | |
| Goodstadt, M.S., Chan, G.C., Sheppard, M.A., & Cleve, J.C. ( 1986). Factors associated with cannabis nonuse and cessation of use: Between and within survey replications of findings. Addictive Behaviors, 11, 275-286. Crossref, Medline | |
| Hagan, J. ( 1989). Why is there so little criminal justice theory? Neglected macro- and micro-level links between organization and power. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 26, 116-135. Link | |
| Hall, W. ( 2001). Reducing the harms caused by cannabis use: The policy debate in Australia. Drug & Alcohol Dependence , 62, 163-174. Crossref, Medline | |
| Hser, Y.-I., Teruya, C., Evans, E.A., Longshore, D., Grella, C., & Farabee, D. ( 2003). Treating drug-abusing offenders: Initial findings from a five-county study on the impact of California’s proposition 36 on the treatment system and patient outcomes. Evaluation Review , 27(5), 479-505. Link | |
| ImpacTeen Illicit Drug Team. (2002). Illicit drug policies: Selected laws from the 50 states. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University . | |
| Inciardi, J.A. ( 2002). Criminal justice (7th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press . | |
| Jacoby, J.E. ( 1980). The American prosecutor: A search for identity . Lexington, MA: Lexington Books . | |
| Johnston, L.D., O’Malley, P.M., Bachman, J.G., & Schulenberg, J.E. (2005). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2004: Vol. 1. Secondary school students (NIH Publication No. 05-5727). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse. | |
| Kautt, P.M. ( 2002). Location, location, location: Interdistrict and intercircuit variation in sentencing outcomes for federal drug-trafficking offenses. Justice Quarterly, 19, 633-671. Crossref | |
| Khatapoush, S., & Hallfors, D. ( 2004). "Sending the wrong message": Did medical marijuana legalization in California change attitudes about and use of marijuana? Journal of Drug Issues, 34(4), 751-770. Link | |
| Krisberg, B., Litsky, P., & Schwartz, I. ( 1984). Youth in confinement: Justice by geography. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 21(2), 153-181. Link | |
| Leiber, M.J., & Stairs, J.M. ( 1999). Race, contexts, and the use of intake diversion . Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 36, 56-86. Link | |
| Marwick, C. ( 1995). Administration attacks increasing use of marijuana . JAMA, 274(8), 598-599. Crossref, Medline | |
| McBride, D.C., VanderWaal, C.J., Pacula, R.L., Terry-McElrath, Y.M., & Chriqui, J.F. ( 2002). Mandatory minimum sentencing and drug law violations: Effects on the criminal justice system. In G. G. Lukefeld, F. Tims, & D. Farabee (Eds.), Treatment of drug offenders: Policies and issues (pp. 319-334). New York: Springer. | |
| McBride, D.C., VanderWaal, C.J., Terry, Y.M., & Van Buren, H. ( 1999). Breaking the cycle of drug use among juvenile offenders . Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice. Crossref | |
| McBride, D.C., VanderWaal, C.J., & Terry-McElrath, Y.M. (2003). The drugs-crime wars: Past, present, and future directions in theory, policy, and program interventions . In H. H. Brownstein & C. Crossland (Eds.), Toward a drugs and crime research agenda for the 21st century (pp. 97-162). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. | |
| Mendes, S.M. ( 2004). Certainty, severity, and their relative deterrent effects: Questioning the implications of the role of risk in criminal deterrence policy . Policy Studies Journal, 32(1), 59-74. Crossref | |
| Mendes, S.M., & McDonald, M.D. (2001). Putting severity of punishment back in the deterrence package. Policy Studies Journal, 29(4), 588-610. Crossref | |
| Misner, R.L. ( 1996). Recasting prosecutorial discretion. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 86(3), 717-777. Crossref | |
| Nagin, D.S., & Pogarsky, G. ( 2001). Integrating celerity, impulsivity, and extralegal sanction threats into a model of general deterrence: Theory and evidence. Criminology, 39(4), 865-890. Crossref | |
| O’Connor, J.C., Chriqui, J.F., & McBride, D.C. ( 2006). Developing lasting legal solutions to the dual epidemics of methamphetamine production and use. North Dakota Law Review , 82(4). | |
| Pacula, R.L., Chriqui, J.F., Reichmann, D.A., & Terry-McElrath, Y.M. (2002). State medical marijuana laws: Understanding the laws and their limitations. Journal of Public Health Policy, 23(4), 413-439. Crossref, Medline | |
| Pacula, R.L., MacCoun, R., Reuter, P., Chriqui, J., Kilmer, B., Harris, K., et al. (2005). What does it mean to decriminalize marijuana? A cross-national empirical examination. In B. Lindgren & M. Grossman (Eds.), Advances in health economics and health services research: Vol. 16. Substance use: Individual behaviour, social interactions, markets and politics (pp. 347-370). Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI. Crossref | |
| Paternoster, R., & Iovanni, L. ( 1986). The deterrent effect of perceived severity: A reexamination . Social Forces, 64(3), 751-777. Crossref | |
| Puzzanchera, C., Stahl, A.L., Finnegan, T.A., Tierney, N., & Snyder, H.N. ( 2003). Juvenile court statistics 1999. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention . | |
| Rubin, H.T. ( 1980). The emerging prosecutor dominance of the juvenile court intake process. Crime & Delinquency, 26, 299-318. Link | |
| Sampson, R.J., & Laub, J.H. ( 1993). Structural variations in juvenile court processing: Inequality, the underclass, and social control. Law & Society Review , 27, 285-312. Crossref | |
| Schulenberg, J.E., Merline, A.C., Johnston, L.D., O’Malley, P.M., Bachman, J.G., & Laetz, V.B. ( 2005). Trajectories of marijuana use during the transition to adulthood: The big picture based on national panel data. Journal of Drug Issues, 35(2), 255-279. Link | |
| Spohn, C., & Holleran, D. ( 2002). The effect of imprisonment on recidivism rates of felony offenders: A focus on drug offenders. Criminology , 40(2), 329-357. Crossref | |
| Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies. (2003). Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS): 1992-2001. National Admissions to substance abuse treatment services, DASIS Series: S-20, DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 03-3778. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. | |
| Terry-McElrath, Y.M., & McBride, D.C. ( 2004). Local implementation of drug policy and access to treatment services for juveniles. Crime & Delinquency , 50(1), 60-87. Link | |
| Terry-McElrath, Y.M., McBride, D.C., Ruel, E.E., Harwood, E.M., VanderWaal, C.J., & Chaloupka, F.J. (2005). Which substance and what community? Differences in juvenile disposition severity. Crime & Delinquency, 51(4), 548-572. Link | |
| Tomkins, A. ( 1990). Dispositional decision making in the juvenile justice system: An empirical study of the use of offence and offender information . Nebraska Law Review, 69, 298-345. | |
| VanderWaal, C.J., Chriqui, J.F., Bishop, R.M., McBride, D.C., & Longshore, D. ( 2006). State drug policy reform movement: The use of ballot initiatives and legislation to promote diversion to drug treatment . Journal of Drug Issues, Summer, 619-648. Link | |
| Wallace, J.M., Jr., & Bachman, J.G. ( 1991). Explaining racial/ethnic differences in adolescent drug use: The impact of background and lifestyle. Social Problems , 38(3), 333-357. Crossref | |
| Ward, D.A., Stafford, M.C., & Gray, L.N. ( 2006). Rational choice, deterrence, and theoretical integration . Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(3), 571-585. Crossref | |
| Weiner, M.D., Sussman, S., McCuller, W.J., & Lichtman, K. ( 1999). Factors in marijuana cessation among high-risk youth . Journal of Drug Education, 29(4), 334-357. Link | |
| Western, B., & Beckett, K. ( 1999). How unregulated is the U.S. labor market? The penal system as a labor market institution. American Journal of Sociology , 104(4), 1030-1060. Crossref | |
| White, T. ( 2002). Controlling and policing substance use(rs). Substance Use & Misuse, 37(8-10), 973-983. Crossref, Medline | |
| White House. (2006). Drug control strategy. Washington, DC: The White House. Retrieved September 20, 2006, from http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/policy/ndcs06/ndcs06.pdf | |
| Williams, K.R., Gibbs, J.P., & Erickson, M.L. (1980). Public knowledge of statutory penalties: The extent and basis of accurate perception. Pacific Sociological Review, 23(1), 105-128. Link |
