Drug Use and Offending Behaviour Among Young People Excluded from School

Abstract

Increasing concern is being placed upon the long-term outcomes of pupils excluded from school and their possible increasing involvement in drug use and crime. Data presented in this paper explore levels of drug USE and offending behaviour of a sample of 14-Z6-year-olds excluded from school. Interviews were conducted with 86 school excludes attending Pupil Referral Units (education centres for young people excluded from school) in North West London during 1996, as part of an ongoing evaluation of a drugs education intervention being delivered by the Home Office Drug Prevention Initiative. The majority of the excludes lived in single parent families with nearly two-thirds having no adult wage earner. Over half of subjects were from ethnic minority backgrounds. Offending behaviour among the sample was high. Nearly all had committed a criminal offence, with nearly half having committed an assault or wounding, and nearly a third having committed a burglary. Levels of lifetime, current drug use, and the range of drugs used were also high among the sample. Over three-quarters of the excludees (78%) had used an illicit drug, with 38% having used a drug other than cannabis. Nine per cent reported lifetime use of cocaine and 5% use of crack cocaine. The data would suggest that young people attending Pupil Referral Units are a high risk group in terms of drug use and offending and would be an appropriate group for targeted interventions, although developing such interventions is likely to be challenging. Subjects had long histories of persistent truanting, previous exclusions and contact with social welfare and criminal justice organizations. However, bearing in mind the extent of their previous drug taking and criminal behaviour, this group might particularly benefit from early interventions, prior to the onset of these problematic behaviours.