Delinquency offenses are acts committed by juveniles that, if committed by an adult, could result in criminal prosecution. This chapter documents the volume 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.

Analysis of case rates permits comparisons of juvenile court activity over time while controlling for differences in the juvenile population. Rates are calculated as the number of cases for every 1,000 juveniles in the population—those age 10 or older who were under the jurisdiction of a juvenile court.¹

The chapter focuses on cases disposed in 2000 and examines trends since 1985.

Counts and Trends

• In 2000, courts with juvenile jurisdiction handled an estimated 1,633,300 delinquency cases.

• On any given day in 2000, juvenile courts handled roughly 4,500 delinquency cases. In 1960, approximately 1,100 delinquency cases were processed daily.

• Between 1985 and 2000, the number of delinquency cases processed by juvenile courts increased 43%.

• After its peak in 1997, the delinquency caseload declined 10% between 1997 and 2000.

• The number of drug law violation cases increased 164% between 1985 and 2000, person offense cases increased 107%, and public order offense cases increased 106%. In comparison, property offense cases declined 3% during this period.

• Person and public order offense cases accounted for 80% of the growth in the delinquency caseload between 1985 and 2000.

Offense profile of delinquency cases

Most serious offense	1985	2000
Person	16%	23%
Property	61	41
Drugs	6	12
Public order	17	23
Total	100%	100%
Note: Detail may not total 100% because of rounding.

• Although the majority of delinquency cases are property offenses, their relative proportion decreased between 1985 and 2000.

Juvenile courts handled more than 4 times as many delinquency cases in 2000 as in 1960

Between 1985 and 2000, caseloads more than doubled for person, drug, and public order offenses; in contrast, the property offense caseload declined 3%

The number of cases handled by juvenile courts decreased in recent years in almost every offense category

			Percent change
Most serious offense		Number of cases		1985– 2000		1991– 2000		1996– 2000		1999– 2000
Total delinquency		1,633,300		43%		16%		–9%		–2%
Total person		375,600		107		35		–1		–3
	Criminal homicide	1,700		36		–32		–39		–16
	Forcible rape	4,700		7		–15		–25		11
	Robbery	22,600		–8		–29		–41		–12
	Aggravated assault	51,200		43		–23		–36		–5
	Simple assault	255,800		160		79		15		–1
	Other violent sex offenses	12,500		96		42		20		9
	Other person offenses	27,200		165		32		35		–15
Total property		668,600		–3		–21		–23		–4
	Burglary	108,600		–23		–30		–25		–3
	Larceny–theft	303,200		–7		–21		–27		–5
	Motor vehicle theft	38,300		3		–46		–29		–3
	Arson	8,300		22		14		–7		–2
	Vandalism	106,800		26		–5		–13		–3
	Trespassing	49,400		–7		–17		–25		–15
	Stolen property offenses	25,200		–8		–15		–22		–4
	Other property offenses	28,900		61		–9		–7		9
Drug law violations		194,200		164		197		5		2
Public order offenses		395,000		106		79		11		2
	Obstruction of justice	179,200		175		142		20		5
	Disorderly conduct	90,200		103		54		0		1
	Weapons offenses	37,500		94		12		–15		–6
	Liquor law violations	27,000		50		126		110		37
	Nonviolent sex offenses	14,900		12		31		23		8
	Other public order offenses	46,200		47		46		–4		–11
Violent Crime Index*		80,100		22		–25		–37		–7
Property Crime Index**		458,300		–10		–26		–26		–4
* Includes criminal homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. ** Includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Note: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. Percent change calculations are based on unrounded numbers.

• Compared with 1985, juvenile courts in 2000 handled 175% more obstruction of justice cases, 160% more simple assault cases, 103% more disorderly conduct cases, and 94% more weapons offense cases.

• Between 1996 and 2000, caseloads dropped in several offense categories, including robbery (41%), criminal homicide (39%), aggravated assault (36%), and burglary (25%).

• 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 Index² (criminal homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) declined 37% between 1996 and 2000. The FBI reported that the number of arrests involving persons younger than age 18 charged with Violent Crime Index offenses decreased 23% during this same period.

• Between 1996 and 2000, the volume of juvenile court cases involving Property Crime Index offenses (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) declined 26%, and the FBI reported that arrests of persons under age 18 for Property Crime Index offenses decreased 28%.

• According to the FBI, the number of arrests of persons under age 18 for homicide decreased 55% between 1996 and 2000, a change that corresponds to the trend in juvenile court cases involving homicide charges (down 39% during the same period).

Case Rates

• In 2000, more than 30 million youth were under juvenile court jurisdiction. Eight in 10 (80%) of these youth were between the ages of 10 and 15, 12% were age 16, and 8% were age 17. The small proportion of 17-year-olds among the juvenile court population is related to the upper age of juvenile court jurisdiction, which varies by state. In 2000, youth age 17 in 13 states were under the original jurisdiction of the criminal court.

• In 2000, juvenile courts processed 53.2 delinquency cases for every 1,000 juveniles in the population—those age 10 or older who were under the jurisdiction of a juvenile court.

• The total delinquency case rate increased 43% between 1985 and 1996 and then declined 14% through 2000.³

• Between 1985 and 2000, case rates increased in three of the four general offense categories: drug law violations by 126%, person offenses by 78%, and public order offenses by 76%.

• In contrast to other offense categories, case rates for property offenses declined 17% between 1985 and 2000.

Delinquency case rates rose from 43.3 cases per 1,000 juveniles in 1985 to 53.2 cases per 1,000 in 2000

Case rates for drug offenses more than doubled between 1985 and 2000—from 2.8 to 6.3

Age at Referral

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

With the exception of 10-year-olds, case rates were higher in 2000 than in 1985 for all age groups

	Case rate
Year	Age 10	Age 11	Age 12	Age 13	Age 14	Age 15	Age 16	Age 17
1985	5.9	9.9	18.2	33.1	50.0	65.8	78.8	80.0
1986	5.7	9.2	17.7	33.5	52.4	69.2	84.4	84.5
1987	5.7	9.8	18.3	34.3	54.4	70.9	84.4	85.4
1988	6.0	9.7	19.3	35.4	56.7	73.0	86.9	87.6
1989	6.1	10.8	20.3	39.0	59.0	77.9	91.7	88.3
1990	6.3	11.1	21.9	41.3	65.3	83.4	99.8	96.3
1991	6.6	11.8	23.2	45.0	68.1	89.9	103.0	101.8
1992	6.3	11.8	23.4	45.7	72.1	90.1	106.6	103.0
1993	5.7	10.8	22.7	44.9	71.5	93.4	106.3	106.8
1994	6.2	11.5	23.9	48.6	75.4	98.4	116.1	111.0
1995	6.1	11.9	25.2	48.8	78.6	100.4	120.2	117.3
1996	5.9	11.4	24.5	47.8	75.7	102.1	120.2	122.8
1997	5.6	11.3	24.4	47.5	75.5	99.3	122.8	122.3
1998	5.5	10.8	23.3	44.9	71.6	94.8	114.2	119.8
1999	5.1	10.3	22.4	42.8	66.4	89.5	108.7	110.7
2000	5.1	10.2	21.3	41.0	65.0	85.7	104.7	111.5
Case rate = Cases per 1,000 juveniles in age group.

• In 2000, 58% 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 juveniles accounted for a smaller proportion of drug and public order cases than of person and property offense cases.

• Age-specific case rates in 2000 were above the rates in 1985 but were below the 1997 peak. On average, age-specific case rates in 2000 were 12% below their corresponding rates in 1997.

Offense profiles of delinquency cases by age group:

Most serious offense	Age 15 or younger	Age 16 or older
2000
Person	26%	19%
Property	43	38
Drugs	8	17
Public order	23	26
Total	100%	100%
1985
Person	16%	15%
Property	64	55
Drugs	5	9
Public order	15	20
Total	100%	100%
Note: Detail may not total 100% because of rounding.

• Compared with the delinquency caseload involving older juveniles, the caseload of youth age 15 or younger in 2000 included larger proportions of person and property offense cases and smaller proportions of drug and public order offense cases.

• Compared with 1985, a greater proportion of the caseloads in 2000 of both older and younger juveniles involved a drug offense.

• Although comparable numbers of 17-year-olds and 16-year-olds were arrested in 2000, the number of juvenile court cases involving 17-year-olds (276,900) was lower than the number involving 16-year-olds (375,500). 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.

• In 2000, 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 more than 3 times the rate for 12-year-olds.

• 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.

In 2000, delinquency case rates increased with the age of the referred juvenile

Case rates generally increased with age for all offenses in 2000

Overall, the increase in delinquency case rates between 1985 and 2000 was less among youth ages 10–12 than among youth in older age groups, but the pattern varied across offenses

Person offense case rates

• With the exception of 10–12-year-olds, person offense case rates increased from 1985 into the mid-1990s and then declined through 2000. For youth ages 10–12, case rates increased through 1999.

• Across age groups, case rates were considerably higher in 2000 than in 1985. For example, in 2000, the case rate for juveniles ages 10–12 was 109% above the rate in 1985 and the rate for juveniles ages 13–15 was 92% above the rate in 1985.

Property offense case rates

• In contrast to trends for other offenses, property offense case rates peaked in the early 1990s and then generally declined through 2000 for all age groups. Between 1991 and 2000, case rates for each age group fell more than 25%.

• As a result of these declines, property offense case rates were lower in 2000 than in 1985 for each age group.

Drug offense case rates

• Drug offense case rates increased between 1991 and 1997; during this time, case rates more than doubled for each age group. As a result, case rates in 2000 were considerably higher than the rates in 1985 for all age groups.

• Since 1997, however, case rates have declined for all but 17-year-olds.

Public order offense case rates

• The public order offense case rates increased steadily between 1985 and 2000 for all age groups—increasing more than 75% for each age group.

• Unlike person and property offenses, case rates for public order offenses have not declined in recent years.

Note: Due to the relatively low volume of cases involving youth ages 10–12 for drug offenses and public order offenses, their case rates are inflated to display the trend over time. The inflation multiplier is noted in parentheses next to the label.