Juvenile Crime Statistics Paper

This paper will address and summarize four different points from the juvenile arrests bulletin from 2001. Such points included in the summary are the overall decrease in juvenile arrests, the increase in drug offenses and simple assaults, implications for juvenile females and minorities, and last an assessment of the tracking of juvenile arrests as a method of measuring the amount of and trends in juvenile crime. In 2001 the juvenile violent crime index arrest rate declined for the seventh consecutive year. The rate increased dramatically from the late 1980’s through 1994 and then began its steady downward trend. By 2001 the rate had fallen 44% from its 1994 peak reaching the lowest level since 1983. Moving on to the increase in drug offences and simple assaults, arrests of juveniles accounted for 12% of all violent crimes cleared by arrest in 2001 specially, 5% of murders, 12% of forcible rapes, 14% of robberies, and 12% of aggravated assaults. The drug offences in juvenile arrests have increased. In 2001 the estimated arrests for drug violations were 202,500 this is one of the highest numbers in the estimates for 2001. Moving on from drug offences and simple assaults to implications for juvenile females and minorities this is also an issue that seems to be growing by the year. Law enforcement agencies made 645,000 estimated arrests of females under the age of 18 in 2001, between 1992 and 2001 the arrests of juvenile females generally increased more than the male category. The racial composition of the juvenile population in 2001 was 78% white, 17% black, 4% Asian/ Pacific Islander, and 1% American Indian. Most Hispanics were classified as white in contrast to their representation in the population, black youth were overrepresented in juvenile arrests for violent crimes, and to a lesser extent, property crimes of all juvenile for