Title: Detention in Delinquency Cases, 1988-1997



Series: Fact Sheet



Author: Gillian Porter



Published: November 2000



Subject: Juvenile courts; Adjudication-juvenile

cases; Juvenile corrections; Young juvenile

offenders



4 pages



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Detention in Delinquency Cases, 1988-1997



by Gillian Porter



The number of cases involving detention increased

35% between 1988 and 1997



The increase in the number of delinquency cases

handled by juvenile courts has driven the growth

in the number of juveniles held in juvenile

detention facilities. In 1988, juvenile courts

handled 1.2 million delinquency cases. By 1997,

this number had risen 48%, to nearly 1.8 million.

This increase in the volume of cases entering the

juvenile justice system resulted in a 35% increase

in the number of delinquency cases that involved

detention at some point between referral and case

disposition. The number of juvenile delinquency

cases detained in 1997 was 85,100 more than in

1988, which has resulted in increased demand for

juvenile detention bed space across the Nation.







The most dramatic change in the detention

population was the influx of female juveniles

charged with person offenses



In general, the proportion of delinquency cases

detained remained relatively steady between 1988

and 1997. Juveniles were detained in 20% of cases

processed in 1988; in 1997, the proportion was

19%. However, the profile of the national

detention population shifted during this period,

with a greater proportion of youth charged with

person offenses, a greater proportion of females,

and a greater proportion of black youth in the

detention population.



Over this period, there was a surge in the number

of female delinquency cases entering detention (a

65% increase, compared with 30% for males). The

large increase (155%) was tied to the growth in

the number of delinquency cases involving females

charged with person offenses.



In 1997, 27% of delinquency cases involving black

youth included detention, compared with 15% for

white youth. Between 1988 and 1997, the percent

increase in the number of cases involving

detention was more than two times greater for

black than for white youth (52% versus 25%,

respectively). Contributing to this

disproportionate increase was a greater increase

in black juvenile case referrals (57%) compared

with white juvenile referrals (43%) and a decline

in the detention of white youth charged with

property offenses. In fact, among all offense

categories, black youth were more likely to be

detained than white youth during every year

between 1988 and 1997.



With the exception of drug offense cases, the use

of detention remained relatively constant



Beginning in the late 1980's, the war on drugs

coincided with a high rate of detention for drug

offense cases. Since that time, the proportion of

drug offense cases detained has declined. The

steady growth in the number of offenders and the

limited number of available detention beds are

factors that likely influenced decisions made by

the court regarding the use of detention. For

example, the number of drug offense cases handled

by juvenile courts increased 157% between 1990 and

1997, while the proportion of drug cases detained

declined 16% (from 38% to 22%) during this period.



Between 1988 and 1997, the use of detention for

juveniles remained consistent in relation to their

ages



Although the number of cases detained involving

juveniles age 13 and younger rose 39% between 1988

and 1997 (from 32,800 to 45,700), the percentage

of cases involving detention in this age category

did not rise significantly. These data indicate

that, although more young children were in the

juvenile justice system in 1997 than 10 years

earlier, the courts did not determine that this

group of young offenders had a greater need for

secure confinement during case processing.

Nevertheless, the increase in the number of very

young offenders in juvenile detention centers has

placed new demands on these institutions.



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For further information



This Fact Sheet is based on the Report Juvenile

Court Statistics 1997. Copies are available from

the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention's (OJJDP's) Juvenile Justice

Clearinghouse, 800-638-8736. OJJDP also supports

distribution of a PC-compatible software version

of the data analyzed in Juvenile Court Statistics.

For a free copy of the software, Easy Access to

Juvenile Court Statistics, call the National

Juvenile Court Data Archive at the National Center

for Juvenile Justice, Pittsburgh, PA, 412-227-

6950. This software can also be downloaded from

OJJDP's home page: www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org.



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Gillian Porter is a Research Assistant with the

National Juvenile Court Data Archive, which is

supported by an OJJDP grant.



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FS-200017



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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.