NCJ Number
168141
Date Published
1996
Length
14 pages
Annotation
After profiling juvenile delinquency among Native Americans, this chapter discusses the causes and correlates of Native American delinquency.
Abstract
The most current profiles of crime, delinquency, arrest, prosecution, and incarceration among Native American youth and adults show a grim picture. Although virtually no methodologically sound studies have focused on the rates of delinquency among Indian juvenile offenders over the past decade, available information suggests an alarming trend; for example, in making recommendations to Congress regarding the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, the National Task Force on Juvenile Justice for Native Americans and Alaska Natives (1987) stated that the rates of serious crimes against persons committed by juveniles are three times higher in Indian Country than in the general juvenile population of the United States. Robert Silverman, however, suggests that prior assertions of crime rates among Native Americans have been based on seriously flawed information. The Working Group for the Native American Community-Based Alternatives for Adjudicated Youth Initiative noted in its Concept Paper (1991) that a number of factors can be readily identified as contributing to the legacy of crime and delinquency among American Indians on reservations. This group suggested that among the critical factors were poverty, lack of education, chronic unemployment, substance abuse, marital and family disruption and violence, loss of cultural identity, over-reliance on aggression to resolve disputes, and an inability/reluctance to assimilate into mainstream American society. This range of factors is consistent with the large set of variables identified in studies over the past 25 years that have attempted to explain the disproportionate rate of crime and delinquency on American Indian reservations. 1 table