The Property Taken

The items most frequently taken from juveniles in property crimes are electronic and photo gear and clothing and luggage (most likely backpacks) (table 3). Cash, jewelry, bicycles and bicycle parts, wallets, toys and recreation equipment, purses, and motor vehicles and parts are each involved in 2–10 percent of the episodes. The distribution of items contrasts considerably with the distribution for adults. Juveniles dramatically outstrip adults in the rates of crimes involving bicycles and parts, clothing and luggage, stamp/coin/card collections, electronic and photo gear, cash, toys and recreation equipment, and even jewelry (table 4). Rates of adult victimization are much higher for other types of property, including tools, motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts, firearms, televisions and other appliances, and credit cards. Televisions and appliances, in particular, are usually taken during burglaries (73 percent), crimes most frequently reported in the NCVS by an adult head of household. The disproportionate appearance of collectively used property like televisions and cars in the adult ownership category reinforces the point that property ownership attributions probably understate the impact of property crimes on juveniles.

The majority (58 percent) of property crimes against juveniles involve items with a total value of less than $50 (table 5). This contrasts with adult victims, 64 percent of whose property loss is valued at more than $50. Reflecting the fact that losses of cars, other vehicles, and televisions are almost exclusively assigned to adult ownership, 12 percent of adult victims claimed a loss of more than $1,000, compared with 1 percent of juvenile victims. Lower valuation certainly plays a role in the lower reporting rates for juvenile property victimizations and also the lesser seriousness with which it is viewed (Finkelhor and Ormrod, 1999). It is important to recognize, however, that from a subjective point of view, relatively less expensive items may be more of a loss for a juvenile than an expensive item is for an adult. This is because the less expensive item may constitute a larger share of a juvenile’s total assets and, in the absence of cash assets or income, be harder to replace.

Juvenile Victims of Property Crimes	Juvenile Justice Bulletin • December 2000