Delinquency offenses are acts committed by juveniles that, if committed by an adult, could result in criminal prosecution. In 1998, courts with juvenile jurisdiction handled nearly 1.8 million delinquency cases. Most of these cases were referred to juvenile courts by law enforcement agencies.

This chapter documents the volume and rate of delinquency cases referred to juvenile court and examines the characteristics of these cases, including types of offenses charged, demographic characteristics of the juveniles involved (age, gender, and race), and sources of referral. The chapter focuses on cases disposed in 1998 and also examines trends.

In 1998, courts with juvenile jurisdiction handled an estimated 1,757,400 delinquency cases

• Between 1989 and 1998, the number of delinquency cases processed by juvenile courts increased 44%.

• The number of person offense cases increased 88% between 1989 and 1998, property offense cases increased 11%, drug law violation cases increased 148%, and public order offense cases increased 73%.

• Compared with 1989, juvenile courts in 1998 handled 128% more simple assault cases, 100% more disorderly conduct cases, 102% more obstruction of justice cases, 61% more weapons offense cases, 36% more aggravated assault cases, and 29% more robbery cases.

• Between 1997 and 1998, caseloads dropped in several offense
  categories, including aggravated assault (6%), criminal homicide (2%), robbery (12%), and burglary (9%).

The relative proportion of person offenses increased between 1989 and 1998, while the proportion of property offenses declined

Juvenile courts handled more than four times as many delinquency cases in 1998 as in 1960

• On any given day in 1998, juvenile courts handled roughly 4,800 delinquency cases. In 1960, approximately 1,100 delinquency cases were processed daily.

Caseloads increased between 1989 and 1998 for all four major offense categories—person, property, drug law violations, and public order

Youth were charged with a property offense in nearly half the delinquency cases handled by juvenile courts in 1998

Most Serious Offense	Number of Cases	Percent Change
		1989–98	1994–98	1997–98
Total Delinquency	1,757,400	44%	5%	–3%
Person Offense	403,800	88	12	1
Criminal Homicide	2,000	6	–36	–2
Forcible Rape	6,000	26	–9	–7
Robbery	29,600	29	–23	–12
Aggravated Assault	65,100	36	–22	–6
Simple Assault	262,400	128	33	3
Other Violent Sex Offense	10,500	53	2	–1
Other Person Offense	28,200	87	35	26
Property Offense	797,600	11	–8	–8
Burglary	125,800	–7	–14	–9
Larceny-Theft	370,500	13	–5	–10
Motor Vehicle Theft	44,200	–34	–28	–11
Arson	8,400	27	–13	–9
Vandalism	118,700	40	–9	0
Trespassing	64,000	26	–3	–5
Stolen Property Offense	34,000	35	0	3
Other Property Offense	32,100	37	13	–3
Drug Law Violation	192,500	148	47	1
Public Order Offense	363,500	73	19	0
Obstruction of Justice	152,000	102	38	2
Disorderly Conduct	92,100	100	10	–4
Weapons Offense	40,700	61	–20	4
Liquor Law Violation	19,600	29	32	59
Nonviolent Sex Offense	10,900	–13	2	–3
Other Public Order Offense	48,100	36	34	–10
Violent Crime Index*	102,600	33	–22	–8
Property Crime Index**	548,800	3	–10	–10
* Includes criminal homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
** Includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
Note: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. Percent change calculations are based on unrounded numbers.

Trends in juvenile court cases paralleled trends in arrests of persons younger than 18

• The number of cases involving offenses included in the FBI’s Violent Crime Index¹ (criminal homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) increased 33% between 1989 and 1998 but decreased 8% between 1997 and 1998.

• The volume of cases involving Property Crime Index offenses (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) increased 3% between 1989 and 1998 but decreased 10% between 1997 and 1998.

• Between 1994 and 1998, the FBI reported that the number of arrests involving persons younger than 18 charged with Violent Crime Index offenses decreased 19%, while arrests of youth for Property Crime Index offenses decreased 17%.

• According to the FBI, the number of juvenile arrests for homicide decreased 48% between 1994 and 1998, a change that corresponds to the trend in juvenile court cases involving homicide charges.

Case Rates

Analysis of case rates permits comparisons of juvenile court activity over time while controlling for differences in the juvenile population

• In 1998, juvenile courts processed 60.4 delinquency cases for every 1,000 juveniles in the population—those age 10 or older who were under the jurisdiction of a juvenile court.²

• The total delinquency case rate rose 25% from 1989 to 1998.³

• During the same time period, case rates increased in three of the four general offense categories: person offenses by 64%, drug law violations by 115%, and public order offenses by 51%.

• In contrast to other offense categories, case rates for property offenses declined 4% between 1989 and 1998.

Delinquency case rates rose from 48.3 cases per 1,000 juveniles in 1989 to 60.4 cases per 1,000 in 1998

Case rates for drug offenses doubled between 1989 and 1998—from 3.1 to 6.6

Age at Referral

In 1998, delinquency case rates increased with the age of the juvenile

• The case rate for 16-year-olds was 1.5 times the rate for 14-year-olds, and the rate for 14-year-olds was 3 times the rate for 12-year-olds.

For all age groups 12 and older, delinquency case rates increased 19% or more between 1989 and 1998

• Delinquency case rates increased between 1989 and 1998 for each age with
  the exception of 10-year-olds. The case rate for 10-year-olds decreased 3%
  between 1989 and 1998.

More than half of all delinquency cases involved youth younger than 16

• In 1998, 58% of all delinquency cases processed by the juvenile courts involved youth age 15 or younger at the time of referral.

• The proportion of cases involving juveniles age 15 or younger varied by offense: younger youth accounted for a smaller proportion of drug and public order cases than of person and property offenses cases.

Offense profiles differed for younger and older youth

• Compared with the delinquency caseload involving older juveniles in 1998, the caseload of youth age 15 or younger included larger proportions of person and property offense cases and smaller proportions of drug and public order offense cases.

Why do juvenile courts handle more 16- than 17-year-olds?

Although comparable numbers of 17-year-olds and 16-year-olds were arrested in 1998, the number of juvenile court cases involving 17-year-olds (286,700) was lower than the number involving 16-year-olds (411,600). The explanation lies primarily in the fact that, in 13 States, 17-year-olds are excluded from the original jurisdiction of the juvenile court. In these States, all 17-year-olds are legally adults and are referred to criminal court rather than to juvenile court. Thus, far fewer 17-year-olds than 16-year-olds are subject to original juvenile court jurisdiction.

Even after controlling for their different representation in the juvenile population, the case rates for 16-year-olds were still slightly greater than the rates for 17-year-olds in some offense categories. One reason may be State legislation that targets certain older juveniles for processing directly in criminal courts (via either statutory exclusion or concurrent jurisdiction provisions). These juveniles include those charged with serious offenses, those with lengthy records of prior offenses, and those who are unreceptive to treatment in the juvenile justice system. In these situations, when a youth of juvenile age is arrested, the matter goes before a criminal court rather than before a juvenile court.

Patterns of age-specific case rates varied among individual offense categories in 1998

• Case rates increased continuously with age for drug and public order offenses; however, rates for person and property offenses peaked in the 16-year-old age group and then declined slightly for 17-year-olds.

• The increase in case rates between age 13 and age 17 was sharpest for drug offenses. The case rate for drug offenses for 17-year-old juveniles was more than 8 times the rate for 13-year-olds.

• For person offenses, the case rate for 17-year-olds was 81% greater than that for 13-year-olds. For property offenses, the difference in case rates between these two ages was 104%. For public order offenses, the difference was 247%.

Overall, the increase in delinquency case rates between 1989 and 1998 was less among youth ages 10–12 than among youth in older age groups, but the pattern varied across offenses

Person offense case rates

• Person offense case rates generally increased from 1989 to 1998. However, among the oldest youth, the person offense case rate peaked in 1995 and then leveled off through 1998.

• On average, the case rate for youth ages 15–17 was 56% greater than the rate for youth ages 13–14 between 1989 and 1998.

Property offense case rates

• The property offense case rate for youth ages 15–17 increased from 1989 through 1991, then declined and leveled off through 1996. Between 1996 and 1998, the rate again declined. The same general pattern was found for youth in younger age groups.

• For all age groups, property offense case rates were lower in 1998 than in 1989.

Drug offense case rates

• For all age groups, the drug offense case rate in 1998 was more than double the rate in 1989.

• In 1998, the drug offense case rate for youth ages 15– 17 was 45 times the rate for youth ages 10–12 and nearly 4 times the rate for youth ages 13–14.

Public order offense case rates

• The public order offense case rate generally increased among all age groups between 1989 and 1998.

• Across all years, the public order case rate among youth ages 15–17 was more than double the rate for youth ages 13–14 and more than 13 times the rate for youth ages 10–12.

(To be continued)