Juvenile Crime Statistics
Stephanie McMurray
University of Phoenix
CJA
374
Cory Kelly
September 29, 2014
Juvenile Crime Statistics
Crime can best be defined as an act committed that is against the law. Illegal acts committed are not exclusive to adults. Not all acts that are considered illegal apply to adults. Juveniles as defined by the law are persons not of the age that can be held responsible for criminal acts. The laws vary from state to state with regard to the age threshold for the juvenile offender; however, it generally is applicable to a person under the age of 18 years (Champion, 2010). It is possible in under certain circumstances that a youth can be held liable under the adult criminal justice system. Juvenile arrest does not just occur as the result of criminal acts they also occur due to the act of committing a status offense. Though status offenses are not outlined in the article these types of offenses can include acts likes truancy, possession or consumption of alcohol, or curfew violations, an adult would not be prohibited by law to commit any of these acts. This paper will provide a summary that will address the fundamental issues that are discussed in the “Juvenile Arrest 2008” article. The crime trends for youth arrest declined between the years of 2006 and 2008. The Federal Bureau of Investigation tracks the flow of violent offenses by dividing them into four categories. The categories monitored are forcible rape, aggravated assault, murder, and non-negligent manslaughter (Puzzanchera, 2009). Over a 10 year time span there was a decline in juvenile arrest between 1994 and 2004 however, the next two years beginning in 2004 through 2006 there was a rise in juvenile arrest. The year of 2004 had resulted in the lowest amount of juvenile arrest since 1987 and according to the statistics as of 2008, the arrest rates of juveniles was actually lower than any arrest of juveniles during the entire period of the 1990’s. During the time frame between 1990 through 1997 there was a large influx of juvenile arrest for drug abuse violations among the males in particular. The increase in arrest percentages appears to range 60% to 70 %, when compared to the prior 11 years span between 1980 through 1991. Arrest made for juvenile females there appears to be an increase in arrest for drug offenses between the years of 1993 through 1996 with the percentage ranging somewhere around a 50% increase though when calculated by numbers the influx does appear to be relatively minimal when compared to the 12 year span between the years of 1980 through 1992. In 2008 female juvenile arrest almost equaled male arrest for drug violations. With regard to simple assaults and juvenile arrest among the male population from the period of 1984 through 1996, it appears that there are almost three times the amounts of arrest when compared to the prior statistical results during the period spanning from 1980 through1984. Juvenile female arrest for the same offense again increased slowly and minimally between the years of 1980 through 2006 According to the bulletin Hispanics are the only ethnicity included in the crime index and are categorized by race as Caucasian. The Caucasian race account for 78% of the youth population, 16% is of the African American race, 5% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1% American Indian. The statistic indicates that neither the Asian or American Indian races were included as they represent such a small portion of the juvenile population. The Caucasian youth arrest rates for violent crimes was significantly less than that for African American youth arrest rates by approximately five times. This means that per 100,000 juvenile arrest that (926) African American’s were arrested while (178) Caucasian juvenile were being arrest for the same type of offense (Puzzanchera, 2009). While the arrest rates appear significantly higher among the African American youth the data in the bulletin it also