Cja 374 - Juvenile Crime Statistics

Juvenile Crime Statistics

CJA/374

Juvenile Crime Statistics

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) directed under the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) established the following statistical arrest information derived from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that was provided by law enforcement agencies throughout the country on individuals (juveniles) under the age of 18. The OJJDP conducts this research every four years and publishes a comprehensive study as part of its Juvenile Offenders and Victims National Report Series. This report will cover data from OJJDP Juvenile Arrest reviews 2001 and national and state juvenile arrest data derived from the FBI report Crime in the United States 2001.

In 2001, an estimated 2.3 million arrests of juveniles had been made throughout the country of the United States of America. In 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports specified that juveniles were responsible for a total of 15% of all violent crime arrests and 17% of all arrests. The mentioned statistical averages appear to be great in numbers but in the late 1980's they were even worse. Between 1987 and 1994 Violent Crime Index arrests to include robbery, forcible rape steadily increased sharply and aggravated assaults and murders rates doubled. In 1993, an estimated 3,800 juveniles were arrested for the crime of murder. In 1994, a continual decline was observed in juvenile Violent Crime Index arrests and it graciously continued to decrease into the year 2000. In 2001, the murder arrest rate itself was estimated to be an astronomical 70% lower from its highest peak in 1993 at about 1,400 arrests. All other violent crimes dropped to a 44% low since its peak in 1994 (Snyder, 2003).

Juvenile arrests rates for simple assault type crime did not decrease in contrast to violent crimes arrests and remained at a significantly all-time high at an estimated 150% increase between 1997 and 2001. Juvenile arrest rates for drug abuse violations remained at an established rate between 1980 and 1993 but increased during the period from1992 to 2001 to a rate of 121% (Snyder, 2003).

There has been a great accomplishment for the Criminal Justice System as a whole for reducing crime but a lot of work still needs to be done. Research studies conducted show the rates of minorities and gender differences in statistics were proven inaccurate and at times astonishingly disproportional. Both adult and juvenile female offense rates grew substantially, Juvenile rates grew at a dynamic rate in comparison to adult offenders. Other disproportional rates included minorities, studies conducted on the rate of arrests in juvenile minorities showed rates in black juveniles towered over rates of whites, and