NCJ Number
154022
Date Published
September 1995
Length
141 pages
Annotation
This report presents demographic information and other statistics on the juveniles involved with State juvenile corrections agencies, based on data from OJJDP's State Juvenile Corrections System Reporting Program.
Abstract
The report emphasizes data for 1990 and 1991 and also includes statistics on trends from earlier years. In 1990, more than 900,000 juveniles were admitted into custody in various types of facilities. Seventy-six percent were admitted to public juvenile facilities, nearly 16 percent to private juvenile facilities, 7 percent to adult jails, and just over 1 percent to State and Federal adult correctional facilities. Seventy-nine percent were males and 21 percent were females. Females were more likely than males to be held in private facilities and slightly less likely to be placed in adult jails, mainly because females tended to commit more status offenses than males and the private juvenile facilities are primarily nonsecure or low-level facilities. Black youths' rate of custody in juvenile facilities was 3.5 times as high as that for white youths. The highest custody rate was for youths ages 14-17. Eighty percent of delinquency cases flowing through the courts were not detained in 1991. Of those detained, 36 percent were charged with drug law offenses, and 25 percent were charged with offenses against persons. Between 1983 and 1991, admissions to juvenile facilities increased significantly more than 1- day counts, possibly due to shortened lengths of stay in some states.