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 1999 and also examines trends.

Counts and Trends

In 1999, courts with juvenile jurisdiction handled an estimated 1,673,000 delinquency cases

• Between 1990 and 1999, the number of delinquency cases processed by juvenile courts increased 27%.

• The number of drug law violation cases increased 169% between 1990 and 1999, public order offense cases increased 74%, and person offense cases increased 55%. In comparison, property offense cases declined 9% during this period.

• Compared with 1990, juvenile courts in 1999 handled 115% more obstruction of justice cases, 95% more simple assault cases, 67% more disorderly conduct cases, and 32% more weapons offense cases.

• Between 1998 and 1999, caseloads dropped in several offense categories, including forcible rape (29%), aggravated assault (16%), robbery (15%), and burglary (11%).

The relative proportion of person offenses increased between 1990 and 1999, while the proportion of property offenses declined

Juvenile courts handled more than four times as many delinquency cases in 1999 as in 1960

• On any given day in 1999, juvenile courts handled roughly 4,600 delinquency cases. In 1960, approximately 1,100 delinquency cases were processed daily.

Caseloads increased between 1990 and 1999 for all four major offense categories—person, property, drug law violations, and public order

Youth were charged with a property offense in more than 40% of the delinquency cases handled by juvenile courts in 1999

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

• The number of juvenile court cases involving offenses included in the FBI's Violent Crime Index¹ (criminal homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) declined 37% between 1995 and 1999.

• The volume of juvenile court cases involving Property Crime Index offenses (burglary, larcenytheft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) declined 23% between 1995 and 1999.

• Between 1995 and 1999, the FBI reported that the number of arrests involving persons younger than 18 charged with Violent Crime Index offenses decreased 23%, while arrests of youth for Property Crime Index offenses decreased 24%.

• According to the FBI, the number of arrests for homicide decreased 56% between 1995 and 1999, a change that corresponds to the trend in juvenile court cases involving homicide charges (down 34% during the same period).

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

• In 1999, juvenile courts processed 57.0 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 increased 25% between 1990 and 1996 and then declined 11% through 1999.³

• Between 1990 and 1999, case rates increased in three of the four general offense categories: person offenses by 35%, drug law violations by 135%, and public order offenses by 52%.

• In contrast to other offense categories, case rates for property offenses declined 20% between 1990 and 1999.

Delinquency case rates rose from 51.4 cases per 1,000 juveniles in 1990 to 57.0 cases per 1,000 in 1999

Case rates for drug offenses doubled between 1990 and 1999—from 2.8 to 6.5

Age at Referral

In 1999, delinquency case rates increased with the age of the juvenile

• The case rate for 16-year-olds was 1.6 times the rate for 14-year-olds, and the rate for 14-year-olds was nearly 3 times the rate for 12-year-olds.

For all age groups 12 and older, delinquency case rates increased between 1990 and 1999

• Delinquency case rates increased between 1990 and 1999 for each age with the exception of 10- and 11-year-olds. During this period, the case rate for 10- year-olds decreased 15% and the case rate for 11-year-olds decreased 4%.

     Note: Percent change calculations are based on unrounded numbers.

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

• In 1999, 57% 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 offense cases.

Offense profiles differed for younger and older youth

• Compared with the delinquency caseload involving older juveniles in 1999, 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 1999, the number of juvenile court cases involving 17-year-olds (290,100) was lower than the number involving 16-year-olds (395,100). 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- yearolds 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.

Case rates increased continuously with age for all offenses in 1999

• 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 public order offenses, the case rate for 17-year-olds was more than 3 times the rate for 13-year-olds and the property offense case rate for 17-year-olds was more than twice the rate for 13-year-olds.

Overall, the increase in delinquency case rates between 1990 and 1999 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 1990 to 1999, with rates increasing more for youth ages 10–12 (55%) than for youth ages 13–14 (39%) or youth ages 15–17 (27%).

• On average, the case rate for youth ages 15–17 was 54% greater than the rate for youth ages 13–14 between 1990 and 1999.

Drug offense case rates

• For all age groups, the drug offense case rate in 1999 was more than double the rate in 1990.

• Drug offense case rates increased sharply (146%) between 1991 and 1996 for youth ages 15–17.

• In 1999, the drug offense case rate for youth ages 15–17 was 47 times the rate for youth ages 10–12 and nearly 4 times the rate for youth ages 13–14.

• In contrast to trends for other offenses, property offense case rates declined between 1996 and 1999 for all age groups. During this period, case rates for youth ages 10–12 and youth ages 13–14 declined 26% and the rate for youth ages 15–17 declined 22%.

• As a result of the recent decline, property offense case rates were lower in 1999 than in 1990 for all age groups.

Public order offense case rates

• The public order offense case rate generally increased among all age groups between 1990 and 1999.

• 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.