Those who begin offending as young children are more likely to become violent offenders

Early-onset offenders will place a burden on justice resources

Snyder (2001) studied the juvenile court records of more than 150,000 urban juveniles who aged out of the juvenile justice system (i.e., turned age 18) between 1980 and 1995. The study found that the earlier a youth enters the juvenile justice system, the more likely he or she is to acquire an extensive juvenile court record. The younger the juvenile is at first referral to court, the more likely he or she is to have at least four separate referrals to juvenile court intake, at least one referral for a serious offense, and at least one referral for a violent offense by the time he or she reaches age 18. As a result, early-onset youth will consume a disproportionate amount of the court’s resources.

Most early-onset offenders, however, do not become serious, violent, or chronic offenders. For example, 84% of youth first referred to court intake at age 9 were never referred to juvenile court for a violent offense. They were far more likely, however, to be referred to juvenile court for a violent crime eventually.

Juvenile court career patterns differ depending on when offenders began their careers, before or after age 13.

Number of youth out of a typical 1,000:

	First referral
Career type	Before age 13	Age 13 or older
Single referral	411	629
Serious	473	312
Chronic	317	116
Violent	130	72
Chronic and violent	104	31

The likelihood of becoming a violent offender declines with the age at first referral to juvenile court

• Of those referred to juvenile court for the first time at age 9, 16% had at least one referral for a violent offense before they turned 18.

Child offenders had a greater proportion of serious, violent, and chronic careers than older-onset youth

• Those outside the serious, violent, and chronic inner circles were referred to court between 1 and 3 times but never for a serious offense. Overlaps represent careers with multiple attributes. The circles and their overlaps are drawn in proportion to the number of careers with those attributes.

Violent offenses: murder, kidnapping, violent sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.
Serious offenses: violent offenses plus burglary, serious larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson, weapons offenses, and drug trafficking.
Chronic offenders: 4 or more referrals in court career.

Note: If these circles were drawn to scale, the child offender circle would be one sixth of the circle for older onset offenders—roughly the size of the small circle in the center.

Source: Author’s adaptation of Snyder’s Epidemiology of official offending, in Child Delinquents: Development, Intervention, and Service Needs.