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Juvenile arrests for violence in 2003 were the lowest since 1987 The FBI assesses trends in the volume of violent crimes by monitoring four offenses that are consistently reported by law enforcement agencies nationwide and are pervasive in all geographical areas of the country. These four crimes—murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault—together form the Violent Crime Index. After years of relative stability in the number of juvenile Violent Crime Index arrests, the increase in these arrests between 1988 and 1994 focused national attention on the problem of juvenile violence. After peaking in 1994, these arrests dropped each year from 1995 through 2002, then held constant for 2003. For all Violent Crime Index offenses combined, the number of juvenile arrests in 2003 was the lowest since 1987. The number of juvenile aggravated assault arrests in 2003 was lower than in any year since 1989. The number of juvenile arrests in 2003 for murder and for forcible rape were both lower than in any year since at least 1980. Finally, even with the marginal 3% increase in the number of juvenile arrests for robbery between 2002 and 2003, the counts for these years were still lower than in any year since at least 1980. In the 10 years between 1994 and 2003, the decline in the number of violent crime arrests was greater for juveniles than adults:
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