Status offenses are acts that are illegal only because the person committing them is of juvenile status. The four major status offense categories used in this Report are running away, truancy, ungovernability (also known as incorrigibility or being beyond the control of one's parents), and underage liquor law violations (e.g., a minor in possession of alcohol, underage drinking). A number of other behaviors may be considered status offenses (e.g., curfew violations, tobacco offenses), but they are not discussed in this Report.

Agencies other than juvenile courts are responsible for processing status offense cases in many jurisdictions. In some communities, for example, family crisis units, county attorneys, and social service agencies have assumed this responsibility. When a juvenile charged with a status offense is referred to juvenile court, the court may divert the juvenile away from the formal justice system to other agencies for service or may decide to process the juvenile formally with the filing of a petition. The analyses in this Report are limited to petitioned cases.

The manner in which status offense cases come to the attention of the juvenile court varies by offense. For example, law enforcement agencies referred 40% of runaway cases that were formally handled in juvenile court between 1985 and 2000 and just 10% of truancy and 11% of ungovernability cases. Law enforcement agencies were more likely to be the referral source for liquor law violations than for other status offense cases, referring 92% of such cases that were formally handled in juvenile court between 1985 and 2000.

Juvenile courts may adjudicate petitioned status offense cases and may order sanctions such as probation or out-of-home placement. While their cases are being processed, juveniles charged with status offenses are sometimes held in secure detention. (Note that the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act discourages secure detention of status offenders. States holding status offenders in secure detention risk losing a significant portion of their juvenile justice block grant awards.)

Because of variations in data collection and storage, the available data cannot support national estimates of the volume of petitioned status offense cases and trends in these cases. Therefore, this chapter presents a sample-based profile of cases disposed between 1985 and 2000, including demographic characteristics of the juveniles involved (age, gender, and race), types of offenses charged, and the flow of cases as they move through juvenile court processing.

Age

• Youth age 15 or younger comprised two-thirds of all runaway cases.

• For liquor law violation cases, the proportion of cases increased substantially throughout the juvenile years. Nearly three-fourths of liquor offense cases involved youth age 16 or older.

The volume of petitioned truancy, runaway, and ungovernability cases peaked at age 15

Data Table
Age	Runaway	Truancy	Ungovernability	Liquor
10	0%	1%	1%	0%
11	1	2	3	0
12	4	6	6	0
13	11	14	14	2
14	22	24	22	7
15	28	31	26	16
16	24	15	20	32
17	10	6	9	42
Total	100%	100%	100%	100%
Note: Detail may not total 100% because of rounding.

Gender and Race

The proportion of females was greater in petitioned status offense cases than in delinquency cases

White juveniles accounted for the majority of petitioned status offense cases

Note: Detail may not total 100% because of rounding.

• The male and female proportions of petitioned truancy and ungovernability cases were roughly similar to their representation in the general population.

• Petitioned liquor law violation cases were disproportionately male and runaway cases were disproportionately female.

• Females accounted for 61% of petitioned runaway cases. In no other offense category (status or delinquency) was the female share of cases greater than the male share. (See the proportion of delinquency cases involving females.)

• Compared with their representation in the general population, white juveniles were overrepresented in petitioned liquor law violation cases and underrepresented in the other three status offense categories.

Detention

Percentage of petitioned status offense cases detained:

Most serious offense	1985–2000
Runaway	17%
Truancy	3
Ungovernability	10
Liquor	7

• Formally processed runaway cases were more likely to involve a stay in detention than were other status offense cases between 1985 and 2000.

Percentage of petitioned status offense cases detained by age, 1985–2000:

Most serious offense	Age 15 or younger	Age 16 or older
Runaway	17%	17%
Truancy	3	3
Ungovernability	10	11
Liquor	8	7

• Older teens and younger juveniles were equally likely to be detained in formally processed status offense cases.

• Cases involving youth age 16 or older accounted for nearly three-fourths (73%) of all liquor offense cases involving detention. All other categories of status offense cases involving detention had a higher proportion of younger juveniles (age 15 or younger) than older juveniles.

Except for liquor offense cases, youth age 15 or younger accounted for the majority of status offense cases involving detention

Status offense cases involving detention had greater proportions of males than females

The proportion of white youth in detained status offense cases was greater than the proportions of black youth and youth of other races

Note: Detail may not total 100% because of rounding.

Percentage of petitioned status offense cases detained by gender, 1985–2000:

Most serious offense	Male	Female
Runaway	19%	15%
Truancy	3	3
Ungovernability	10	10
Liquor	8	5

• For runaway and liquor law violation offenses, males were more likely to be detained than females.

Percentage of petitioned status offense cases detained by race, 1985–2000:

Most serious offense	White	Black	Other races
Runaway	16%	18%	18%
Truancy	3	3	4
Ungovernability	10	10	12
Liquor	7	14	6

• Youth in all racial groups were more likely to be detained for runaway cases than other case types.

Adjudication

Age

• Across offenses, petitioned status offense cases involving younger juveniles were more likely than those involving older juveniles to result in the youth being adjudicated a status offender.

• For both age groups, petitioned runaway cases were least likely to result in the youth being adjudicated a status offender.

Gender

• With the exception of liquor law violation cases, the likelihood of adjudication was about the same for males and females. In liquor offense cases, adjudication was more likely for males than females.

Race

• Except for liquor law violation cases, the proportion of petitioned status offense cases in which the youth was adjudicated a status offender was similar for white and black youth. In liquor cases, white youth were more likely than black youth to be adjudicated a status offender.

• For all four offense categories, adjudication was more likely for petitioned cases involving youth of other races than for cases involving white youth and black youth.

In most petitioned status offense cases, except for runaway cases, the youth was adjudicated

Percentage of petitioned status offense cases adjudicated, 1985–2000:

	Most serious offense
Demographic	Runaway	Truancy	Ungovernability	Liquor
All	48%	63%	64%	61%
Age
15 or younger	50	63	66	63
16 or older	44	61	61	60
Gender
Male	48	63	65	62
Female	47	63	64	57
Race
White	47	62	65	60
Black	47	64	61	51
Other races	55	65	74	75

Disposition

Probation was the most common disposition for adjudicated status offense cases

Percentage of adjudicated status offense cases resulting in out-of-home placement, 1985–2000:

	Most serious offense
Demographic	Runaway	Truancy	Ungovernability	Liquor
All	27%	10%	27%	8%
Age
15 or younger	27	11	28	9
16 or older	26	7	24	7
Gender
Male	30	11	27	8
Female	25	10	27	8
Race
White	26	10	28	7
Black	31	11	24	15
Other races	24	10	26	10

Percentage of adjudicated status offense cases resulting in probation, 1985–2000:

	Most serious offense
Demographic	Runaway	Truancy	Ungovernability	Liquor
All	57%	78%	64%	56%
Age
15 or younger	57	77	63	61
16 or older	56	81	65	55
Gender
Male	54	77	63	56
Female	59	79	64	58
Race
White	56	77	62	56
Black	58	81	69	63
Other races	65	84	66	56

Note: In addition to out-of-home placement and probation, possible dispositions for adjudicated status offense cases include other sanctions (e.g., fines) and release.

Age

• Adjudicated status offense cases involving younger juveniles were somewhat more likely to result in out-of-home placement than were cases involving older juveniles.

• For both age groups, out-of-home placement was more likely for adjudicated runaway and ungovernability cases than for truancy and liquor offense cases.

Gender

• Only in runaway cases were adjudicated males more likely than adjudicated females to be ordered to out-of-home placement.

• For both males and females, out-of-home placement was more likely for adjudicated runaway and ungovernability cases than for truancy or liquor law cases.

Race

• Adjudicated runaway cases involving black youth were more likely to result in out-of-home placement than were cases involving white youth or youth of other races. The same pattern held for liquor cases.

• Across racial groups, truancy cases were most likely to result in probation.

Case Processing

Runaway Cases

• For every 1,000 petitioned runaway cases, 271 resulted in formal probation following adjudication and 128 resulted in out-of-home placement.

• Among petitioned runaway cases, youth were not adjudicated a status offender in 524 of a typical 1,000 cases. Of these 524 cases, most were dismissed (349).

Runaway

Truancy Cases

• Of a typical 1,000 formal truancy cases, 491 resulted in formal probation and 65 resulted in out-of-home placement.

Truancy

Ungovernability Cases

• Juvenile courts were far more likely to order youth to out-of-home placement in petitioned ungovernability cases (172 of 1,000 cases) than in other types of status offense cases. However, formal probation was the most likely outcome (408 of 1,000).

Ungovernability

Liquor Law Violation Cases

• Among petitioned liquor law violation cases, the most likely outcome was formal probation (342 of 1,000). The court often ordered formal sanctions other than residential placement or probation (204 of 1,000) in these cases. In fact, the use of out-of-home placement was less likely in liquor cases than in the other three types of status offense cases.

Liquor law violation

Note: Cases are categorized by their most severe or restrictive sanction. Detail may not add to totals because of rounding.