Youth Justice



Youth Justice

Introduction

Approximately 1 percent of juvenile cases that receive formal review by the juvenile court are waived to adult criminal court each year. The most common offenses transferred since the mid-1990s are violent offenses. Juveniles are more frequently involved in property crimes and in drug-law violations than in violent crimes.Youths under age 18 account for a disproportional percentage of all arrests for property crimes, especially motor-vehicle theft, vandalism, arson, burglary, and larceny. More juveniles are arrested for larceny than for any other offense, as listed in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). Data on self-reported delinquent behavior show a consistent decline in illicit drug use throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. However, beginning about 1994, increases occurred in the use of drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and various hallucinogens, especially by high school seniors. Still, marijuana remains the most popular illicit drug among juveniles (Pope, 1990b)

Starting about 1985, the arrest rate among juveniles for violent crimes, especially murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, serious assault, and weapons violations, increased sharply. In particular, the arrest rate for murder among juveniles peaked by 1994 but then dropped off again in the late 1990s. Compared with all homicide offenders, youths are more likely to commit homicide with a firearm.

Youth crime in general, and youth violence in particular, is often committed in a group context. Most notorious are youth gangs, which exist in many major U.S. cities. Drive-by shootings and street muggings in places such as Los Angeles and Chicago (among other locales) are two well-known forms of gang violence. In the mid-1990s, mass killings by students at school with firearms, though infrequent, captured a great deal of public attention. National studies of firearms behavior among youth from 1996 and 1997 show that about 6 percent of high school students carried a gun outside of home over a period of 30 days or a year, but that far less than 1 percent did so at school. While gun-carrying among students sampled from inner city high schools has been found to be higher, schools in general are relatively safe from firearms violence compared to the street and even the home.

Implications of Youth Justice and Crime

Juvenile law violations are more prevalent in urban areas, among males, with minority youth, and as age increases. These patterns are more marked for more serious behavior, especially for major violent and property crime, though much less apparent for status offenses, smaller property crime, and self-reported drug use. A small percentage of juveniles have been identified as chronic or repetitive offenders and account for a disproportionate number of all serious arrests, especially for violent offenses, among persons under age 18.

Juvenile delinquency may be related to many factors. Two popular theories argue that youths who face limited economic opportunities or youths who experience low status among peers at school may turn to delinquency out of need, hopelessness, or frustration. It has also been stated that juveniles who have weaker bonds to their parents, education, and/or religion may ...