ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides the theoretical and empirical foundations of the early Racine research. It examines the ecological analyses with comparison of the findings utilizing census tracts, police grid areas, natural areas, and neighborhoods as spatial units, concluding that the smaller and more homogeneous neighborhoods enable to better capture the relationship of urban social structure to delinquency and crime and ensuing temporal changes. The book investigates the relationship of juvenile drug use and juvenile drug offenses to delinquency and adult crime. It summarizes the findings and indicates why it is so difficult to control delinquency and crime. The book focuses on the role of drugs and alcohol in other delinquent and criminal activities, since they are linked among a large proportion of the young people in the study as well as among adults.
