SUBSTANCE INVOLVEMENT AMONG JUVENILE MURDERERS - COMPARISONS WITH OLDER OFFENDERS BASED ON INTERVIEWS WITH PRISON-INMATES

We evaluated substance involvement among incarcerated juvenile offende rs convicted of murder or manslaughter. Patterns of substance involvem ent among juvenile offenders were compared with patterns found in olde r offenders. Irrespective of age group, close to one-third of all homi cide perpetrators reported that they were affected by alcohol prior to the offense. In every age group, alcohol was the substance showing th e highest rate of ''regular'' lifetime use and the highest rate of ing estion in the week preceding the homicide. In many respects, the repor ted substance use patterns in the 16-17-year-old age group were closer to the patterns demonstrated by the oldest (36+) age group than they were to the adjacent 18-20-year-old group. Juvenile offenders were gen erally less substance involved than all but the oldest group of offend ers. Almost all of the juveniles who were substance involved prior to the homicide attributed the homicide to the effects of those substance s. Narrative accounts suggest that substances (almost always alcohol) escalated impulsive, spontaneous violent outbursts. Implications for t he interpretation of self-reports about substance use provided by murd erers are also discussed.