NCJ Number
146812
Date Published
1993
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This report presents data regarding current patterns and recent trends in juvenile delinquency and the juvenile justice system in New Jersey.
Abstract
The State is ranged fifth in the Nation in the number of juvenile arrests and fourth in the arrest rate for serious violent crime. With 88,790 juvenile arrests in 1992, more than one in every five arrests in New Jersey is a juvenile arrest. New Jersey's six most populated cities account for 37 percent of juvenile arrests for serious violent crime and 54 percent of juvenile arrests for selling drugs. Nearly 12,000 juveniles were detained in county detention facilities in 1992, an increase of 8 percent over the previous year. The county-based detention system is becoming increasingly overcrowded. Probation continues to be the most widely used disposition and is used in almost three in every five adjudicated cases. The courts divert about 45 percent of the delinquency cases they handle. Minority youths comprise more than 90 percent of the State training school population and 84 percent of all admissions to county detention facilities. In an important reorganization of correctional responsibility, the Department of Human Services now operates State-run residential and day programs. Figures and tables