Juvenile Crime and Punishment

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Juvenile Crime and Punishment
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Causes of Youth Violence

• Complex interplay of factors
• Correlations, not predictions
• Accumulation of risk
• Number of resources

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The Development of Delinquency

• Individual-level risk factors
• Social factors
• Community factors
• Neighborhood factors

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The system .....

• founded on the principle of hope
• designed to help youth overcome criminal
  tendencies
• focused on rehabilitation, not punishment
• based on the assumption that youth are not fully
  responsible for their actions

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It is a system .....

• Informal proceedings
• A high level of court discretion
• Judge acting in the childs best interest
• Closed court proceedings
• Confidential records
• Charged as delinquents not criminals
• Found delinquent not guilty
• No imprisonment, training schools and
  reformatories

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The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Act, 1992

• Limits placement of juveniles in adult facilities
  
• Jail removal requirement they shall not be
  detained or confined in any institution in which
  they have contact with adult(s) incarcerated
  because they have been convicted of a crime or
  are awaiting trial on criminal charges

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The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Act

• Exempt are juveniles held in secure facilities if
  the juvenile is being tried as a criminal for a
  felony or has been convicted as a criminal felon.

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The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Act

• Sight and Sound Separation In institutions other
  than adult jails or lockups, confinement is
  permitted if the juvenile and adult inmates
  cannot see each other and no conversation between
  them is possible.

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The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Act

• Requires that states determine whether the
  proportion of minorities in confinement exceeds
  the proportion in the general state population.
  If such over representation is found, states must
  implement efforts to reduce it.

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Sources of Crime Data

• Arrest Rates
• Victim Reports
• Self-report Data

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Outlining the problem

• In 1997 2.8 million arrests were made of persons
  lt18 years
• In 1997 juveniles accounted for 19 or all
  arrests and 17 of violent crime arrests
• In 1997, despite a recent 4 year decline, violent
  crime arrests were 49 higher than in 1988

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A perplexing phenomenon...

• The number of juvenile arrests for murder
  decreased 39 from 1993 to 1997
• The number of juvenile arrest for other violent
  crimes has also declined
• And, these decreases are occurring despite
  continuing growth in the juvenile population!

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Violent Crimes...

• Where do they occur?
• What types of crimes?
• Who commits them?
• How are the committed?
• When are they committed?

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Geographic Concentration

• 85 of the 3,141 counties in the U.S. reported no
  juvenile homicide offenders in 1997.
• 8 reported only one offender
• In contrast, 25 of all known juvenile homicide
  offenders were reported in just FIVE counties
  that contain the following cities LA, Chicago,
  New York, Philadelphia, and Detroit.

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Figure 1 Delinquency Cases Processed in Juvenile
Court, 1987-1996
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Murders and Homicides

• 1,700 juveniles were implicated in 2,300 murders
  in 1997 (12 of all murders)
• Males were responsible for most of the growth in
  homicides by juveniles from the mid-1980s through
  1994.

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Juvenile Murderers Males offenders vs. Female
Offenders 1980-1997
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Number of Juvenile Murderers by Age Group
1980-1997
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Denver, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Studies
Age and gender differences
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Juvenile Homicide Offenders by Race 1980-1997
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Who were the victims?

• Most victims were male (85), slightly more were
  black (49) than white (48), and 11 of victims
  were below the age of 18.
• In 1997, 11 of victims were family members, 56
  were acquaintances, and 34 were strangers

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Homicides by Juveniles by Offenders Relationship
to Victim 1980-1997
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Type of Crime

• In 1997, fifty-six percent of victims of juvenile
  homicides were killed with a firearm, 29 decline
  from 1995

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Homicides by Juvenilesby Weapon Used 1980-1997
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1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

• 9 of high school students had carried a weapon
  on school property in the past month
• In a year, 7 of high school kids were threatened
  or injured with a weapon at school
• Fear of school-related violence kept 4 of high
  school kids home at least once in the past month

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What type of crimes do juveniles commit?

• 5.38 violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, and
  aggravated assault)
• 26.80 property crime (burglary, arson, theft)
• 67.82 other crimes (top categories are
  vandalism, prostitution, DWI, liquor law
  violations, drug possession/abuse)

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Prevalence of crimes by juveniles
Most of the data are provided by the Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and
relate to ARREST RATES
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Prevalence of crimes by juveniles
While juveniles below age 13 were involved in
only 9 of all juvenile arrests, these very young
juveniles were involved in a higher proportions
of the following crimes arson (35), nonviolent
sex offense (18), larceny-theft (15), simple
assault (13), burglary (12), and forcible rape
(11).
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Prevalence of crimes by juveniles
Black youth made up 15 of the juvenile
population in 1997 but they were involved in 28
of all juvenile arrests. Black youth were
disproportionately involved in juvenile arrests
for murder (56), forcible rape (45), robbery
(60), aggravated assault (42), motor vehicle
theft (38), fraud (42), and gambling (77).
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Time of Day Juvenile Violent Crimes Are Committed
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Time of Day Juvenile Gang Crimes Are Committed
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When are violent crimes likely to be committed?

• Juveniles are more likely to commit violent
  crimes on school days than on non-school days,
  and directly after school than at any other time
  of day.

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Rate of Growth in Juvenile Crime

• While changing little between 1973-1989, the rate
  at which juveniles committed violent crimes
  increased nearly 70 from 1987 to 1994--then
  declined and returned to the 1989 level in 1995
  and then continued to decline through 1997.

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The Good News

• Serious violent crimes by juveniles dropped 25
  between 1994-1995 and has continued to drop since
  then.
• Most encouraging is the nearly 20 decline in
  murders by juveniles between 1993-1995

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The Good News

• In 1997, juvenile homicides were the lowest in
  the decade but still 21 above the average of the
  1980s

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Violent Crimes Committed by Juveniles 1973-1997
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Juvenile Arrest Rate for Forcible Rape 1975-1997
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Juvenile Arrest Rate for Robbery 1975-1997
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Juvenile Arrest Rate for Aggravated Assault
1975-1997
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However.

• While the wave of juvenile violence has subsided
  somewhat this is not to say that we have solved
  the problem of juvenile crime. The current level
  of juvenile violence is still at an unacceptable
  level

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What happened in 1995?

• For the first time in 8 years the juvenile
  violent crime arrest rate declined in 1995.
• A substantial drop of 17 over 1994 numbers!
• Nearly all the decline was in homicides was by
  black juvenile males
• Nearly all the decline was in fire-arm related
  homicides

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What happened in 1995?

• Nearly all the decline from 1994 to 1995 was in
  arrests for younger juveniles (-2 for 15-17 year
  olds, -5 for younger juveniles)

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Trend Continued Through 1997

• By 1997, the juvenile violent crime arrest rate
  was at its lowest level in the 1990s
• In 1997, both the male and female juvenile
  violent crime arrest rate decreased since 1995
• The violent crime arrest rates for very young
  juveniles (10-12) also declined from 1994-1997.

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State Responses

• Study by the National Center of Juvenile Justice
• (1992-1997)

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Change in the Juvenile Justice System

• to punish, hold accountable, and incarcerate for
  longer periods of time those juveniles who, by
  history or type of offense, passed a threshold of
  tolerated juvenile law violating behavior.

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State Changes to

• jurisdictional authority (juvenile to criminal
  court)
• sentencing authority (new sentencing options)
• confidentiality (removal of traditional
  confidentiality provisions)
• victim's rights (increased the role of victims in
  court hearings)

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Changes to sentencing options

• judicial waivers (waive juvenile court
  jurisdiction)
• prosecutor discretion (at the will of state
  prosecutor)
• legislative exclusion (state statutes exclude
  certain juvenile offenders from juvenile court
  jurisdiction)

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Juvenile Court Processing of Delinquency Cases,
1996
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Delinquency Cases Waived to Criminal Court,
1987-1996
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From 1992 - 1997 all but 5 states enacted or
expanded provisions for transferring juveniles
from juvenile court jurisdiction to criminal
court for prosecution.
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A trend away from traditional juvenile
dispositions is emerging, and "blended
sentencing options at the state level are
creating a middle-ground between traditional
juvenile and adult sanctions
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As many states have shifted away from
rehabilitation and toward punishment,
accountability, and public safety. The emerging
trend is one of dispositions based on the
offense. Retribution and deterrence have
replaced rehabilitation as the primary juvenile
justice goals
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Problems that might force the issue

• many more juveniles are being held in crowded
  secure public facilities in 1997 than in 1991
• crowding in juvenile facilities (detention
  facilities, training schools) has increased as
  the juvenile custody population has grown.
• in 1997 half of all public detention centers were
  operating above their design capacity.

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Problems that might force the issue

• Minority youth (10-17 years) are over represented
  in custody facilities. In 1997 they made up 34
  of the population as a whole, but 62 of the
  detention population.