Overall, delinquency cases involving black juveniles and youth of other races were somewhat more likely to be judicially waived to criminal court than were cases involving whites. In 1997, 1.2% of formally processed cases involving black juveniles and 1.1% of those involving youth of other races were waived, compared with 0.7% of cases involving white youth (table 45).

Among both whites and blacks, the use of waiver to criminal court for cases involving drug offenses increased between 1988 and 1991 and then declined through 1997. The use of waiver in person offense cases involving white youth increased from 1988 through 1994 and then dropped, so that such cases were as likely to be waived in 1997 as in 1988. The trend in the use of waiver for person offense cases involving black youth was similar to the trend for white youth, although the proportion of cases waived each year was higher for blacks than whites.

Compared with 1988, property offense cases in 1997 made up a smaller proportion of all waived cases involving either white or black juveniles (table 46). On the other hand, person offense cases accounted for a growing proportion of waived cases between 1988 and 1997, increasing from 21% to 36% for white youth and from 38% to 43% for black youth. In 1997, property offenses made up the greatest proportion of waived cases involving white juveniles (47%), while person offenses contributed most to the waived caseload of black juveniles (43%).

Petitioned cases involving black juveniles were less likely to be adjudicated (55%) than were cases involving white juveniles (59%) or juveniles of other races (66%) in 1997 (table 47). For each offense category, petitioned cases involving black youth were less likely to result in adjudication than were cases involving white youth or youth of other races.

The likelihood of adjudication for petitioned delinquency cases declined between 1988 and 1997 for all racial groups. There were variations within race-offense combinations. For example, in drug cases, the likelihood of adjudication decreased for cases involving white youth (from 62% to 59%) and youth of other races (from 65% to 63%) but increased for black youth (from 54% to 58%).

In 1997, adjudicated cases involving white youth were less likely to result in out-of-home placement (26%) than were cases involving black youth (32%) or youth of other races (29%) (table 48). Changes in the likelihood of out-of-home placement varied slightly across the four major offense categories within racial groups. For all races, the most substantial variation was in the use of residential placement for drug cases.

Adjudicated delinquency cases involving white juveniles were generally more likely to result in formal probation than were cases involving either black juveniles or youth of other races (table 49). In 1997, formal probation was the disposition for 56% of adjudicated cases involving white youth, compared with 53% for blacks and 51% for other races. Between 1988 and 1997, use of formal probation remained relatively unchanged for white youth but declined slightly for black youth and youth of other races.