Juvenile CrimeIntroductionEvery year, millions of juveniles are involved in criminal activities. According to statistics, as of 1999, the arrest rate for juvenile crime has dropped from its peak in the mid-1990s. Statistics about juvenile crime have shown a steady increase of juvenile arrests from 1987 to 1994.
Although overall crime rates have decreased since 1994, they are still above what they were in 1980. The following paragraphs and charts show the crime rates of specific crimes committed by juveniles. Statistics on Juvenile Crime RatesIn the year of 1999, law enforcement agencies made an estimated 2. 5 million convictions of persons under the age of 18. There were 28,000 arrests for robbery, committed by juveniles, reported by law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Juvenile arrests for violent crimes dropped 23 percent from 1995 to 1999.
In 1999, 27% of all juvenile arrests involved a female. The crime rate for females grew 88 percent from 1981 through 1999. In 1999, 77% of all juvenile cases involved a male, down from 81 percent in 1988, and 33 percent of the cases were involving a female, an increase of 88 percent from what is was in 1988. In all categories of juvenile crimes, the number of females committing crimes is growing while the number of males who are committing crimes are decreasing, by about 1 or 2 percent every year.
(Based on data from the NCJRS organization available online at ncjrs. org). In 1999, youth under the age of 15 accounted for 67 percent of all juvenile arrests for arson. In 1999, 1/4th of all people arrested for robbery were under 18.
Of all violent crimes committed by juveniles under the age of 18, the following rates apply; forcible rape, 17 percent; aggravated assault, 14 percent; and murder, 9 percent. In 1999, the juvenile male arrest rate for all violent crimes was 4. 5 times more than the crime rate for females. Even though the crime rate has fallen from it peak in 1995, it is still significantly higher than its low in 1983. Between 1980 to present, the juvenile crime rate has increased by over 62 percent for violent crimes. (violent crimes include the following: murder, manslaughter, rape, and robbery).
Since 1995 the overall crime rate for people under 17 has dropped by 39 percent. In 1999, there were 7,928 arrests for every 100,000 youths in the United States. The rate of juvenile crimes involving a firearm is higher on school days than non-school days. Statistics on Juvenile Court Case FlowOf every 1,000 petitioned adjudicated delinquency cases handled in 1997, 177 resulted in formal probation and 94 resulted in residential placement following adjudication. In many formally handled delinquency cases that did not result in juvenile court adjudication, the youth agreed to informal services or sanctions, including out-of-home placement, informal probation, and other dispositions such as restitution.
In a small number of cases (13 of 1,000), the juvenile was adjudicated but the court closed the case with a stayed or suspended sentence, warned and released the youth, or perhaps required the youth to write an essay. In such cases, the juvenile is not under any continuing court supervision. Although juvenile courts handled more than 4 in 10 delinquency cases without the filing of a formal petition, more than half of these cases received some form of court sanction, including probation or other dispositions such as restitution, community service, or referral to another agency. (http://ojjdp.
ncjrs. org/ojstatbb/delinquencytotal. html)Note: All of the above graphs and charts were based on info from the OJJDP website. Our groups opinion on juvenile crimes is that we think that someone who commits a serious crime like robbery, murder, assault and rape, knows what they are doing is wrong. If a thirteen year old or even a ten year old would commit a murder, they would know that what they are doing is wrong and that they would get in a lot of trouble if they get caught.
In some cases if they are convicted as a juvenile, they might only go to a juvenile center until they turn 18, which would be in about five years, While, anyone else convicted of the same crime who is over seventeen would probably face 30 years to life in prison, and in same cases the death penalty. We think teenage juveniles should be
