The juvenile contribution to crime has declined

The relative responsibility of juveniles and adults for crime is hard to determine. Research has shown that crimes committed by juveniles are more likely to be cleared by law enforcement than are crimes committed by adults. Therefore, drawing a picture of crime from law enforcement records is likely to give a high estimate of the juvenile responsibility for crime.

The clearance data in the Crime in the United States series show that the proportion of violent crimes law enforcement attributed to juveniles has declined in recent years. The proportion of violent crimes cleared by juvenile arrests grew from about 9% in the late 1980s to 14% in 1994 and then declined to 12% in 2000.

In the period since 1980, the proportion of murders cleared by juvenile arrests peaked in 1994 at 10% then dropped to 5% in 2000—the lowest level since 1987 but still more than the levels of the mid-1980s.

The juvenile proportion of cleared forcible rapes peaked in 1995 (15%) and then fell, with the 2000 proportion (12%) near the lowest level in the decade but still more than the levels of the late 1980s (9%). The juvenile proportion of robbery clearances also peaked in 1995 (20%); it fell substantially by 2000 (16%) but was still more than the levels of the late 1980s (10%). The juvenile proportion of aggravated assault clearances in 2000 (12%) was less than its peak in 1994 (13%) but still more than the levels of the late 1980s (8%). The proportion of Property Crime Index offenses cleared by juvenile arrests in 2000 (22%) was less than the average of the 1980s and 1990s.



State variations in juvenile arrest rates may reflect differences in juvenile law-violating behavior, police behavior, and/or community standards

State
Reporting Coverage
2000 Juvenile Arrest Rate*
Violent Crime Index
Property Crime Index
Drug Abuse
Weapons
United States72%†      330      1,686      649      116     
Alabama71     149      822      264     59     
Alaska91     243      2,565      517      101     
Arizona91     294      2,185      894      81     
Arkansas 86      183      1,477      321      85     
California 100      405      1,411      583      160     
Colorado 76      238      2,628      805      188     
Connecticut 76      279      1,555      671      106     
Delaware 50      1,053      3,571      1,387      262     
District of Columbia 0      NA      NA      NA      NA     
Florida 98      612      2,443      884      109     
Georgia 48      272      1,381      490      115     
Hawaii 88      247      1,744     422      45     
Idaho 99      176      2,461     483      132     
Illinois 23     939      2,763      2,868      427     
Indiana 64      350      1,722     523      44     
Iowa88      244      1,943     413      47     
Kansas 0      NA      NA      NA      NA     
Kentucky 6      206      1,984     623      73     
Louisiana 69      408      1,810      568      89     
Maine98      121      1,907      619      28     
Maryland84      528      1,904     1,281      188     
Massachusetts76     449      686     419      39     
Michigan85     149      1,092     342      56     
Minnesota 94     283      2,174      889      153     
Mississippi 50     147      1,945     617      93     
Missouri 52%      329      2,229      789      125     
Montana 38      379      1,883      333      58     
Nebraska 91      118      2,483      719      106     
Nevada 98      254      2,409      777      191     
New Hampshire 59      96      1,022      690      34     
New Jersey 97     360      1,269      876      172     
New Mexico 63      281      1,467      581      143     
New York35      315      1,437      635      96     
North Carolina 79     317      1,697     507      159     
North Dakota 89     32      2,220     354      40     
Ohio 52      218      1,488      422      86     
Oklahoma 100      248      1,675      500      90     
Oregon81      201      2,503     653      94     
Pennsylvania 75      462      1,451     557      100     
Rhode Island 95      274      1,430     641      108     
South Carolina 28      322      1,700      682      118     
South Dakota 79      138      2,220      675      93     
Tennessee 69      176      1,044      423      65     
Texas 96      215      1,553      601      69     
Utah 70      213      2,888      580      143     
Vermont 81      57      926      312      15     
Virginia 73      158      1,006      398      102     
Washington 69      328      2,933      598      153     
West Virginia 49      85      884     185      27     
Wisconsin 0     NA      NA      NA      NA     
Wyoming 100      159      1,895      765      88     

* Throughout this Bulletin, juvenile arrest rates are calculated by dividing the number of arrests of persons ages 10–17 by the number of persons ages 10–17 in the population. In this table only, arrest rate is defined as the number of arrests of persons under age 18 for every 100,000 persons ages 10–17. Juvenile arrests (arrests of youth under age 18) reported at the State level in Crime in the United States cannot be disaggregated into more detailed age categories so that the arrest of persons under age 10 can be excluded in the rate calculation. Therefore, there is a slight inconsistency in this table between the age range for the arrests (birth through age 17) and the age range for the population (ages 10–17) that are the basis of a State’s juvenile arrest rates. This inconsistency is slight because just 2% of all juvenile arrests involved youth under age 10. This inconsistency is preferable to the distortion of arrest rates that would be introduced were the population base for the arrest rate to incorporate the large volume of children under age 10 in a State’s population.

† The reporting coverage for the total United States in this table (72%) includes all States reporting arrests of persons under age 18. This is greater than the coverage in the rest of the Bulletin (65%) because Florida was able to provide arrest counts of persons under age 18 but was not able to provide the age detail required to support most other presentations in Crime in the United States 2000.

NA = Crime in the United States 2000 reported no arrest counts for this State.

Interpretation cautions: Arrest rates are calculated by dividing the number of youth arrests made in the year by the number of youth living in reporting jurisdictions. While juvenile arrest rates in part reflect juvenile behavior, many other factors can affect the size of these rates. For example, jurisdictions that arrest a relatively large number of nonresident juveniles would have higher arrest rates than jurisdictions where resident youth behave in an identical manner. Therefore, jurisdictions that are vacation destinations or regional centers for economic activity may have arrest rates that reflect more than the behavior of their resident youth. Other factors that influence the magnitude of arrest rates in a given area include the attitudes of its citizens toward crime, the policies of the jurisdiction’s law enforcement agencies, and the policies of other components of the justice system. Consequently, comparisons of juvenile arrest rates across States, while informative, should be made with caution. In most States, not all law enforcement agencies report their arrest data to the FBI. Rates for these States are necessarily based on partial information. If the reporting law enforcement agencies in these States are not representative of the entire State, then the rates will be biased. Therefore, reported arrest rates for States with less than complete reporting coverage may not be accurate.

Data source: Analysis of arrest data from the FBI’s Crime in the United States 2000 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2001), tables 5 and 69, and population data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census’ Census 2000 Summary File 1, table P14, Sex by Age for the Population Under 20 Years [Web site data files].



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Juvenile Arrests 2000 OJJDP Bulletin • November 2002