Gender

Most delinquency cases involve males, but the proportion of cases involving females was greater in 1999 than in 1990

Percentage of delinquency cases involving males:

• Nearly one-quarter (24%) of all delinquency cases handled in 1999 involved a female juvenile, compared with 19% in 1990.

• In 1990, 20% of all person offense cases involved a female juvenile; this proportion increased to 27% by 1999.

Offense profiles were similar for males and females

• In 1999, the male caseload contained a greater proportion of drug offenses and a smaller proportion of person offenses than the female caseload.

Between 1990 and 1999, the number of delinquency cases involving males increased 19%, while the number of cases involving females increased 59%

• The overall female delinquency caseload grew at an average rate of 5% per year between 1990 and 1999, compared with 2% per year for males.

• The growth in person offense cases was greater for females (107%) than for males (42%) between 1990 and 1999.

• For both males and females, the largest percent growth between 1990 and 1999 was in drug offense cases (161% and 219%, respectively).

Across all offense categories, gender-specific case rates were higher in 1999 than in 1990, with the exception of the property offense case rate for males

• In 1990, the delinquency case rate for males was 4 times greater than the rate for females. By 1999, the male rate was 3 times greater than the female rate— 84.6 compared with 27.9.

• The largest disparity in case rates was for drug offenses. In 1999, the drug offense case rate for males was 5 times higher than the rate for females.

Between 1990 and 1999, the percent change in case rates was greater for females than for males in each general offense category

Age-specific case rates for males and females varied by offense

• On average, male delinquency rates were more than 3 times the female rates within age groups.

• Although delinquency case rates generally increased with age, the increase was more pronounced for females than for males. On average, the female case rate increased 75% from one age group to the next, compared with a 57% increase in the male case rate.

• Male case rates increased continuously through age 17 in all four delinquency offense categories. For females, case rates increased through age 17 in two of the four offense categories.

• For both males and females, case rates for drug offenses increased considerably from age 12 to age 14. For males, the drug offense case rate for 14-year-olds was 7.6 times higher than the rate for 12- year-olds. For females, the rate for 14-year-olds was 6.4 times higher than the rate for 12-year-olds.

In 1999, the delinquency case rate for males increased through age 17, while the female case rate peaked at age 16

Race

The number of cases involving white youth increased 30% between 1990 and 1999, while cases involving youth of other races increased 28%, and those involving black youth increased 20%

• Trends differed somewhat across racial groups. For black juveniles, public order offense cases showed the largest percent increase (68%) between 1990 and 1999; for white juveniles and for youth of other races, drug cases showed the largest percent increase (252% and 228%, respectively).

     Note: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. Percent change calculations are based on unrounded numbers.

For each racial group, the case rate reached a peak in 1996 and then declined

• The 1999 case rate for youth of other races was 25% below its 1996 peak; case rates for black juveniles declined 16% between 1996 and 1999, while the rate for white juveniles declined 8%.

• The total case rate for black juveniles in 1999 (106.0) was more than twice the rate for white juveniles (49.0) and nearly three times the rate for youth of other races (34.6).

For all racial groups, a property offense was the most common charge involved in delinquency cases disposed in 1999

Offense profile of delinquency cases, 1999:

White youth accounted for 68% of the delinquency cases disposed in 1999

Between 1990 and 1999, the percent change in case rates was greater for white youth and black youth than for youth of other races

Between 1990 and 1999, case rates increased for all racial groups in all offense categories except property offenses

Person offense case rates

• Between 1990 and 1999, the person case rate increased more for white youth (52%) than for black youth (11%) or youth of other races (13%).

• In 1999, the person offense case rate for black juveniles was nearly 3 times the rate for white juveniles and more than 4 times the rate for youth of other races.

Drug offense case rates

• Drug case rates increased for all racial groups during the 1990s. Case rates increased more for white youth (212%) and youth of the other races (140%) than for black youth (40%).

• The 1999 drug case rate for blacks (11.3) was nearly twice the rate for whites (5.8) and 4 times the rate for youth of other races (2.7).

• Throughout the 1990s, the property offense case rates for whites and other races were about half the rates for blacks.

• For all racial groups, property offense case rates were lower in 1999 than in 1990: the rate declined 23% for youth of other races, 22% for black youth, and 20% for white juveniles.

• Between 1990 and 1999, the public order case rates for whites and other races were about half the rates for blacks.

• The increase in the public order case rate between 1990 and 1999 was greater for white juveniles (57%) than for black juveniles (43%) or juveniles of other races (11%).

Data Table Age White Black Other races 10    4.2 11.4    3.6 11    8.3 23.9    6.8 12 18.6 49.0 13.7 13 36.5 87.4 28.2 14 57.8 130.4 42.7 15 78.3 176.4 57.0 16 97.4 206.6 66.2 17 101.2 219.9 61.2

• Within each age group, the case rate for black juveniles was more than twice the rate for white juveniles and more than three times the rate for youth of other races.

• Across racial groups, case rates increased sharply from age 10 to age 13. For white juveniles, the case rate for 13-year-olds was nearly 9 times the rate for 10- year-olds. For black juveniles and youth of other races, case rates for 13-year-olds were nearly 8 times the rate for 10-year-olds.

  Age-related increases in delinquency case rates occurred for each racial group within all offense categories, although there were variations across the 12 offense-race combinations

  Person offense case rates, 1999

  

  • Regardless of race, person offense case rates increased through age 17.

  • Within each racial group, the person offense case rate for 16-year-olds was nearly twice the rate for 13-year-olds.

  Drug offense case rates, 1999

  

  • Similar to the pattern for person offense case rates, drug offense case rates increased continuously through age 17 for all racial groups.

  • Drug offense case rates increased sharply after age 13 for white youth and black youth.

  • For black youth, the drug offense case rate for 16-yearolds was 10 times the rate for 13-year-olds.

  Property offense case rates, 1999

  

  • Property offense case rates increased through age 17 for white juveniles and black juveniles but peaked at age 16 for youth of other races.

  • Across racial groups, property offense case rates for 13-year-olds were about 7 times higher than the rates for 10-year-olds.

  Public order offense case rates, 1999

  

  • Similar to the pattern for property offense case rates, public order case rates increased through age 17 for white juveniles and black juveniles but peaked at age 16 for youth of other races.

  • Within each age group, the case rate for public order offenses involving black youth was more than twice the rate for white youth and more than 3 times the rate for youth of other races.

  Source of Referral

  Most delinquency cases are referred to court by law enforcement agencies

  

  Data Table Total Person Property Drugs Public order 1990    86%    86%    91%    92%    69% 1991 84 81 89 88 69 1992 86 85 90 93 71 1993 87 87 91 94 70 1994 86 87 91 94 69 1995 87 88 91 94 69 1996 86 87 91 93 68 1997 85 86 91 93 65 1998 84 86 90 92 63 1999 83 86 91 91 63

  • Delinquency cases can be referred to court intake by a number of sources, including law enforcement agencies, social service agencies, schools, parents, probation officers, and victims.

  • Law enforcement agencies are traditionally the source of most delinquency referrals. In 1999, for example, 84% of delinquency cases were referred by law enforcement.

  • There is some variation across the four major offense categories in the proportion of cases referred by law enforcement.

  • In 1999, law enforcement agencies referred 91% of drug law violation cases, 91% of property cases, and 87% of person offense cases.

  • Law enforcement agencies referred a smaller proportion of public order offense cases (62%), perhaps because this offense category contains probation violations and contempt-of-court cases, which are referred most often by court personnel.

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  1 The annual series of reports from the FBI, Crime in the United States, provides information on arrests in offense categories that have become part of the common vocabulary of criminal justice statistics. The Crime in the United States series tracks changes in the general nature of arrests through the use of two indexes, the Violent Crime Index and the Property Crime Index. While not containing all violent or all property offenses, the indexes serve as a barometer of criminal activity in the United States. The arrest trends reported above are from Crime in the United States 1999.

  2 The upper age of juvenile court jurisdiction is defined by statute in each state. See the Glossary of Terms section for a more detailed discussion on upper age of juvenile court jurisdiction. Case rates presented in this Report control for state variations in juvenile population.

  3 The percent change in the number of cases disposed may not be equal to the percent change in case rates, because of the changing size of the juvenile population.

  4 Throughout this Report, juveniles of Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race; however, most are included in the white racial category.