Black juveniles were referred to juvenile court at a rate more than double that for white juveniles

A disproportionate number of cases involved black youth

Although two-thirds of delinquency cases involved white youth, a disproportionate number of cases involved blacks (29%), given their proportion of the juvenile population. In 1998, whites made up 79% of the juvenile population, blacks 15%, and youth of other races 5%.

Racial profile of delinquency cases:

Offense	White	Black	Other races	Total
1998
Delinquency	67%	29%	4%	100%
Person	62	35	3	100
Property	70	26	4	100
Drugs	68	29	3	100
Public order	68	29	3	100
1989
Delinquency	68%	29%	3%	100%
Person	56	40	3	100
Property	72	25	4	100
Drugs	58	40	2	100
Public order	70	27	3	100
Note: Detail may not total 100% because of rounding. All racial groups include Hispanics.

The racial profile of delinquency cases overall was essentially the same in 1998 as in 1989, although there were noticeable changes in some offense categories. The black proportion of person cases dropped from 40% in 1989 to 35% in 1998, and the black proportion of drug cases dropped from 40% in 1989 to 29% in 1998.

Offense profiles for whites and blacks differed

Delinquency caseloads of black juveniles contained a greater proportion of person offenses than did caseloads of white juveniles and those of other races. For all racial groups, property offenses accounted for the largest proportion of cases and drug offenses the smallest proportion.

Compared with 1989, person and public order offenses made up a larger share and property offenses a smaller share of delinquency cases for all racial groups in 1998. Among black juveniles, person offenses rose 3 percentage points, public order offenses rose 5 points, and property offenses dropped 10 points. Among white juveniles, person offenses rose 6 percentage points, public order offenses rose 3 points, and property offenses dropped 15 points.

Offense profile of delinquency cases:

Offense	White	Black	Other races
1998
Delinquency	100%	100%	100%
Person	21	28	19
Property	47	40	53
Drugs	11	11	8
Public order	21	21	20
1989
Delinquency	100%	100%	100%
Person	15	25	16
Property	62	50	64
Drugs	5	9	4
Public order	18	16	17
Note: Detail may not total 100% because of rounding. All racial groups include Hispanics.

Case rates increased from 1989 to 1998 for all racial groups

• In 1998, the overall delinquency case rate for black juveniles (115) was more than twice the rate for whites (51) and nearly triple the rate for youth of other races (40).

• In all four general offense categories, case rates were higher for blacks than for whites and higher for whites than for youth of other races.

• The differences in rates by race were more pronounced for person offenses than for the other three general offense categories.

  Note: Juveniles of Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race, but most are included in the white racial category.

  Source: Author’s adaptation of Puzzanchera et al.’s Juvenile Court Statistics 1998.