Sean P. Varano

Adolescent drug use has consistently been a concern for researchers and policymakers for decades as its early onset and continued use can lead to a variety of negative life outcomes. Concerns related to marijuana use have emerged in recent years as states have begun to change laws regarding recreational cannabis use. The current study uses data from a cohort of students in Massachusetts to understand how these changes may impact marijuana use. Findings from this study suggest that nearly three years after the first recreational marijuana retail center opened, the protective features of parental norms toward marijuana use may no longer be relevant in protecting young people from early experimentation with drugs. Policy implications are discussed.

The City of Brockton (Massachusetts) initiated The Champion Plan (TCP) in February 2016 as part of a community-wide effort to redefine the public safety sector’s approach to policing the drug crisis. TCP program model allows those suffering from addiction to walk into a police station and ask for treatment. Early evidence suggests substantial successes for this approach to addressing addiction. Data show 523 individuals walked into the Brockton Police Department 818 times looking for help during the first 24 months of operation. Program staff were able to secure placement beds, on average, within 90 minutes of making contact with clients. Program clients report high levels of satisfaction with the program model, and early data indicate that a substantial number of clients retain engagement with services beyond intake. Findings from this study indicate police-centered treatment-on-demand programs may be viable strategies for getting those suffering from the disease of addiction into treatment.

Policing scholars have long observed that many individuals entering into the policing profession have family connections to the field that may influence occupational choices and predispositions. Crank (1998) argued that family links to the profession provide a sort of pre-employment socialisation that fundamentally shapes officers' attitudes toward police culture, community residents and management strategies. The purpose of the current study is to build on this existing literature by determining how generational linkages to policing affect attitudes toward the policing profession. The focus of this study is on police recruits who recently entered formal academy training. Studying individuals at this point in professional development is valuable because it mitigates any effects of formal law enforcement employment experiences. The research utilised occupational predisposition and socialisation theories to assess the relationship between family connections to law enforcement and recruit attitudes. Using independent sample t-tests to examine mean differences, and regression models to study the impact of independent variables on outcome measures, the analyses examine the impact of family connections on a series of dimensions of professional orientation. The findings indicate that recruits with no family in law enforcement were more likely to hold a negative attitude towards their supervisor and that those with family in law enforcement were more likely to believe that assisting citizens was just as important as enforcing the law. Implications for larger and more systematic study of police recruits are discussed.

This article examined the effect that limiting police discretion regarding juvenile court referrals had on the referral of first-time juvenile arrestees to a county family court. Data were drawn from Lakeside, a midsized Midwestern police department, and are composed of juvenile arrest and county court records. Data were compiled on all juveniles arrested for the first time in 1993 (prepolicy change) and 1995 (post-policy change). Overall, juveniles were more likely to be referred to the county family court following the policy change. Younger offenders and offenders with less serious offenses were, consonant with our hypotheses, significantly more likely to be processed through the court after the policy change. Contrary to our expectations, the findings indicate that the likelihood of referral for race and gender combinations did not change significantly. This research highlights the importance of controlling for policy changes when examining trends in juvenile arrests and referrals.