Introduction

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is committed to improving the justice system’s response to crimes against children. OJJDP recognizes that children are at increased risk for crime victimization. Not only are children the victims of many of the same crimes that victimize adults, they are subject to other crimes, like child abuse and neglect, that are specific to childhood. The impact of these crimes on young victims can be devastating, and the violent or sexual victimization of children can often lead to an intergenerational cycle of violence and abuse. The purpose of OJJDP’s Crimes Against Children Series is to improve and expand the Nation’s efforts to better serve child victims by presenting the latest information about child victimization, including analyses of crime victimization statistics, studies of child victims and their special needs, and descriptions of programs and approaches that address these needs.

Property crime is the most frequent kind of criminal victimization and one with important economic and psychological consequences, although it has not received the same public attention as violent crime in recent years. Property crime victimization rates are much higher for juveniles than for adults, but very little attention has been paid to property crimes against juveniles or the particular features that characterize these crimes. This Bulletin tries to fill this gap by examining the characteristics of property crimes against juveniles. It uses crime information from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) for 1996–97 and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) for 1997.

The following are among the highlights of this Bulletin:

• One out of every six juveniles ages 12–17 was the victim of a property crime each year (1996 and 1997), a rate 40 percent higher than the rate for adults.

• Property crime victimization rates are particularly high for African American juveniles and juveniles living in urban areas and the West.

• Higher income and residence in rural areas do not confer the same protection against property victimization for youth as they do for adults.

• Items most frequently taken from juveniles are electronic and photo gear and clothing and luggage (presumably backpacks).

• The majority of juvenile property crimes (54 percent) occur at school, by far the most common location for these crimes.

• Property crimes against juveniles are rarely reported to police (for example, only 11 percent of all thefts against juveniles are reported, one-third the reporting rate for adults).

• Fifteen percent of juveniles recover stolen property, a higher recovery rate than that for adults.

• Making a police report is associated with a 76-percent greater likelihood that a youth will recover property, even controlling for a variety of other factors.

• Since 1993, juvenile property victimizations have declined 23 percent.

• Some of the distinctive features of juvenile property victimization (such as its occurrence in schools, the kinds of items taken, and its special demography) suggest that its prevention may require different policies than those addressing adult property crime.

Juvenile Victims of Property Crimes	Juvenile Justice Bulletin • December 2000