Title: Juvenile Court Placement of Adjudicated Youth, 1989-1998 Series: Fact Sheet Author: Charles M. Puzzanchera Published: February 2002 Subject: Adjudication juvenile cases; Juvenile courts 3 pages 5,064 bytes ----------------- Figures, charts, forms, and tables are not included in this ASCII plain-text file. To view this document in its entirety, download the Adobe Acrobat graphic file available from this Web site or order a print copy from NCJRS at 800-851-3420 (877-712-9279 for TTY users). ------------------ Juvenile Court Placement of Adjudicated Youth, 1989- 1998 by Charles M. Puzzanchera In 1998, more than one in four adjudicated delinquency cases resulted in out-of-home placement Juvenile courts employ a variety of dispositions for youth adjudicated delinquent. Of the 634,000 adjudicated delinquency cases in 1998, 26% resulted in a judicial disposition of out-of-home placement (i.e., placement in a residential treatment center, juvenile corrections facility, foster home, or group home); 58% resulted in an order of probation; 11% resulted in some other disposition, such as restitution, fines, community service, or referral to other treatment agencies; and 5% were released at disposition without sanction. In 1998, juveniles adjudicated for drug offenses were less likely to be placed outside the home than were those adjudicated for other types of offenses. Following adjudication, placement was ordered in 23% (17,800) of drug offense cases, 24% (67,100) of property offense cases, 27% (39,300) of person offense cases, and 28% (39,600) of cases involving public order offenses, such as weapons offenses, disorderly conduct, and obstruction of justice. A relatively high proportion of public order offense cases resulted in out-of-home placement because this category included escapees from institutions and probation and parole violators. Placement cases grew 37% between 1989 and 1998 The number of adjudicated cases that resulted in out-of-home placement rose from 119,700 in 1989 to 163,800 in 1998. The largest percentage increase was in the number of person offense cases resulting in placement, which grew 73% from 1989 to 1998. Placement grew 59% for drug offense cases, 52% for public order offense cases, and 12% for property offense cases. The general pattern of increase in out-of-home placements followed the pattern of increase in adjudicated cases between 1989 and 1998-- the number of adjudicated drug offense cases grew 146%, person offense cases grew 111%, public order offense cases grew 105%, and property offense cases grew 26%. In fact, although the number of adjudicated cases that resulted in out-of-home placement grew between 1989 and 1998, the overall proportion of cases that resulted in out-of-home placement declined from 31% in 1989 to 26% in 1998. The number of out-of-home placements between 1989 and 1998 increased across all racial groups Of the estimated 163,800 adjudicated cases in 1998 that resulted in out-of-home placement, 99,800 (61%) involved white youth, 58,400 (36%) involved black youth, and 5,600 (3%) involved youth of other races. That same year, 24% of adjudicated cases involving white youth resulted in out-of-home placement, compared with 30% of cases involving black youth and 25% involving other minority youth. Between 1989 and 1998, the number of adjudicated cases resulting in out-of-home placement increased more for white youth (39%, from 71,900 to 99,800) than for black youth (35%, from 43,200 to 58,400) or for youth of other races (21%, from 4,600 to 5,600). Although these data do not control for the severity of the offense or the court histories of the youth, the disproportionate representation of minorities in out-of-home placement is a national concern. ----------------- For further information This Fact Sheet is based on the forthcoming Report Juvenile Court Statistics 1998, which will be available on the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP's) Web site (ojjdp.ncjrs.org). To learn more about juvenile court cases, visit OJJDP's Statistical Briefing Book (ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/index.html) and click on "Juveniles in court." OJJDP also supports Easy Access to Juvenile Court Statistics, a Web-based application that analyzes the data files used for the Juvenile Court Statistics Report. This application is available from the Statistical Briefing Book. ------------------ Charles M. Puzzanchera is the Manager of Data Analysis and Report Production for the National Juvenile Court Data Archive, a project supported by an OJJDP grant. ------------------- The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office for Victims of Crime. ------------------- FS 200202