Juvenile Crime Statistics Paper

In the United States, “an estimated 7,100 juvenile defendants were charged with felonies in adult criminal court in 1998” ("Juvenile Defendants"). These numbers portray how there were a lot of juveniles being charged. In addition to a large increase in the amount of crime, there was a change in the severity of the crimes that were committed, “the number of violent crimes committed by young people declined substantially from the 1990s to 2003, but then surged again that year, with the estimated number of juvenile murder offenders increasing 30 percent” (Kahn). These numbers show how juveniles were committing more crimes that were serious in the face of the law. These numbers are a brief snippet of

Studies on relationship between race and delinquency primarily focus on two groups, African Americans and Whites. Applicable arrest data reports that African Americans are disproportionately involved in delinquency, with larger differences for serious crimes. Recent analysis has indicated that these race differences have declined in recent years. Criticism of these studies note that crimes committed by African Americans may be more likely to come to attention of the police and that African Americans offenders are more likely to be arrested than their white counterparts. Early self-report data found little or no relationship between race and delinquency. Later self-report studies found that African Americans and whites commit similar levels of minor delinquency, while African Americans are more likely to engage in serious delinquency, but not to extent reported in arrest data. The studies attributed the discrepancy to a larger percentage of high-rate African Americans offenders than high-rate white offenders. Victimization data suggests that African Americans are more likely than whites to be both offenders and victims of violence. Race and social class explain some but not all of the factors contributing to serious delinquency (Wright and Younts, 2009).

Juvenile Delinquency has increased throughout the years. In 2008 the United States police arrested about 2.11 million juveniles. Juvenile arrest rates had increased in 2005 and again in 2006. Data show increases in some offense categories but declines in most. Most changes being less than 10% in either direction. According to the data arson at 47% is one of the biggest crimes that juveniles commit. Following are robbery at 27%, burglary at 27%, and property crimes at 26%. Juveniles are creating more problems for parents, schools, and communities. In 2007 juvenile courts dealt with a large amount of juvenile delinquents. About 4,600 cases per day were being treated at the courts (Puzzanchera, Charles).

According to the FBI Arrest Statistics from 1994 to 2000 the crimes committed by juveniles between the ages of 10 to 17 was reported as 80% to 65%, which was high and then slowly decrease, whereas in 2001 to 2007 the crimes committed by juveniles between the ages of 10 to 17 has increased from 68% to 75% and the crimes that are being committed range from violent crimes of rape and murder to non-violent crimes such as forgery and counterfeiting. The FBI provides their annual data files containing agency-based arrest counts to the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) within the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan with funds from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, NACJD aggregates agency-level counts to the county level, and then applies an estimation procedure to compensate for the under reporting and no reporting agencies within the county. (Puzzanchera, 2009)

Juvenile Delinquents are being incarcerated at earlier ages as time progresses. The term delinquent speaks of two or more youths, typically amongst the ages of ten and seventeen years old, who are involved in doings well-defined as illegal. The study of juvenile delinquents in inner city Chicago have been studied for many years and the rates continue to sky rocket as juveniles are being locked down by the justice system. Cases of violence amongst juveniles has been increasing rapidly in the past 20 years, juveniles are now linked to severer crimes, and it can be speculated that regardless of efforts of rehabilitation that the recidivism of juveniles relapsing is very great. Thus leading to physiological and mental problems that can be damaging to the youth as

A trend analysis of juvenile homicide offenses shows that since the mid 1970's, the number of homicides in which no firearm was involved has remained fairly constant. However, homicides by juveniles involving a firearm have increased nearly threefold. In addition, during this same period, the number of juvenile arrests for weapons violations increased 117 percent. When guns are the weapon of choice, juvenile violence becomes deadly.

Criminal justice statistics released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2013 indicated that incarceration numbers for youths in the State of Florida dropped by 32 percent between

if you had to look at all the juvenile delinquents in our society and guess what the most common crime is what would your guess be; theft, vandalism, assault, battery, murder? These would all be good guesses but are in fact incorrect. Drum roll please, and the correct answer is substance abuse, also known as drug use. The biggest issue that our communities are facing is our juveniles using drugs and this leading into the more severe violent crimes. “In 1997, courts with juvenile jurisdiction disposed of nearly 1.8 million cases nationwide for delinquency alone representing over one million individual juveniles who came into contact with the court that year. Many of these youth have alcohol, drug, or mental health (ADM) problems” (Breda, August 14, 2004, p. 3). 1.8 million Cases of drug related cases are a clear indicator of where our juvenile’s problems begin. The biggest issue that this creates is that the alcohol and substance abuse that surrounds our youth has been proven to be a gateway into more serious crimes. “

Juvenile crime statistics show that offenders under the age of 15 represent the leading edge of the juvenile crime problem. "Violent crime grew some 94% among these youngsters from 1990 to 1995- compared with 47% for older youth (Siegel and Welsh, 2011).

Juvenile offending is a concern in society today. Juveniles account for approximately 19% of the population but are responsible for 29% of criminal arrests (Cottle, Lee, & Heilbrun, 2001). Crime overall has been found to be decreasing throughout the last two decades. The issue is that the rate in which adult crime is decreasing is significantly greater than the rate in which juvenile crime is decreasing. Since the rate of juvenile crime is so high, juvenile delinquents are seen as predators and many believe they lack morals. The way in which media of today’s society constructs juvenile delinquency impacts the views of a community towards their youth and youth offenders. Media presents an inaccurate image of youth offenders as violent predators (Rhineberger-Dunn, 2013). This inaccurate image significantly promotes the myths that juvenile crime is rising, juveniles commit crimes that are primarily violent, and that juveniles are highly effected by recidivism and continue committing crimes into adulthood (Bohm, & Walker, 2013). It has already been stated though that crime rates have been decreasing over the last two decades so the first myth is refuted. The myth that juveniles primarily commit violent crimes is also very off. In most cases, juveniles are involved in property crimes and although there are some violent crime cases, they are very rare. When these rare violent crimes do occur, youth can be tried in adult court. The

Many risk factors tie into juveniles committing crimes and these crimes contribute to the national statistics in the United

Juvenile crime is a major problem in today's society, nevertheless it's one of the most

Juvenile delinquent behavior is believed to be under-represented due to the limited methods of collecting juvenile crime data. Juvenile arrests accounted for 16 percent of all violent crime arrests (i.e. murder, rape,

The Juvenile System has been around for a long time. The primary reason behind separating Juvenile from adult criminals is quite simple; the judicial system believes that the children are less culpable for their irresponsive behavior and they could easily be reformed as compared to adult offenders. The crucial role of the judicial system is to critically investigate, diagnose, and recommend treatments for the Juveniles rather than accrediting them. However, because of the increasing number of juvenile arrest for crimes committed by persons considered as a child, the attention that the given to a crime involving juveniles, the decreasing trust to the juvenile system itself and the lauder roar of the society for a safer place to live in,

In truth, the problem isn't quite as pressing as it was a few years ago. With crime rates dropping, so is juvenile crime. But felonies by kids had exploded over the previous 10 years, a legacy of the crack trade and armed gangs, so the recent decline is still a dip in a high plateau. From 1985 to 1995, juvenile arrests for violent crimes rose 67%. Perhaps a fifth of all violent crimes is the work of teens.