A youth may be adjudicated delinquent after admitting to the charges in a case or after the court finds sufficient evidence to judge the youth a delinquent. The court adjudicated juveniles delinquent in 58% of all formally processed delinquency cases in 1997 (table 14). The court adjudicated 55% of person offense cases, 59% of property offense cases, 58% of drug law violation cases, and 59% of public order offense cases.

The proportion of petitioned delinquency cases in which the juvenile was adjudicated delinquent decreased from 60% to 58% between 1988 and 1997. The proportion increased from 54% to 55% for person offense cases. The proportion decreased for property offense cases from 62% to 59% and for public order offense cases from 63% to 59%. For drug offense cases, the proportion held steady at 58%.

Although adjudications declined as a percentage of formally handled delinquency cases between 1988 and 1997, when adjudications and transfers to criminal court are measured together as a proportion of all delinquency cases, the practices of juvenile courts are found to have changed very little during this period (figure 5). During the 10-year period, cases resulting in transfer or adjudication have accounted for about 3 in 10 delinquency cases. During the same period, however, the overall use of formal processing increased about 10%.