NCJ Number
159577
Date Published
1995
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Even though most arrests nationwide for serious violent crime involve young adults and not juveniles, the problem of juvenile violence deserves serious attention.
Abstract
In 1992, 82 percent of violent crime arrests involved persons 18 years of age or older. Of juvenile arrests the same year, about 6 percent were for the violent index crimes of murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The number of juvenile cases transferred to criminal court and the use of incarceration in juvenile facilities have increased in response to juvenile violence and other forms of juvenile crime. Most arrested juveniles, however, are charged with nonviolent offenses, and the impact of incarceration and waiver on juvenile offenders is evaluated in terms of three basic challenges: (1) it is difficult to successfully punish, deter, and treat incarcerated juvenile offenders in large facilities that operate over capacity; (2) large facilities often fall prey to an institutional culture in which success measures relate only to compliance with the institution's rules and norms; and (3) complexity and fragmentation in the juvenile justice system work against juvenile reintegration. The need to reform juvenile incarceration and aftercare practices and to monitor the cost- effectiveness of secure confinement and aftercare is stressed. The author concludes that, although juvenile crime does not constitute an epidemic, it is an extremely serious problem that must be addressed realistically. 57 references and 16 figures