NCJ Number
162583
Date Published
1992
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews statistics, research, and program information regarding chronic, serious, and violent juvenile crime.
Abstract
Analysis of self-reported measures of violent offending employed in the National Youth Survey, covering the period 1976 to 1980, indicates that: (1) approximately 5 percent of juveniles at each age from 12 to 17 were classified as serious violent offenders; (2) approximately 35 percent of males and 11 percent of females were classified as serious violent offenders for at least 1 year by the age of 21; (3) serious violent offenders on the average commit eight serious violent offenses annually; (4) on the average, each of these individuals commits 132 delinquent offenses annually, compared to 54 for the serious nonviolent offenders; (5) the mean length of serious violent careers is about 1 year; (6) nearly 10 percent of serious violent offenders have a career length of 5 years or more; and (7) 84 percent of the most serious offenders had no official record. There are sections on: arrest, juvenile court, confinement, and imprisonment trends; research on youth gangs; adult court vs. youth court; chronic juvenile offenders and the causes of their behavior; and program evaluations. Sources