NCJ Number
140734
Date Published
1992
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The number of young adults known to have committed offenses in England and Wales has fluctuated over the past 15 years; in 1990, 25 percent of all known offenders committing indictable offenses were young adults.
Abstract
Crime rates for young adult men between 17 and 20 years of age peaked in 1985 at 7,241 per 100,000, while the 1990 figure was 7,143 per 100,000. Crime rates for young adult women rose in the 1980's to a high in 1987 of 1,069 per 100,000 population, fell to 1,034 in 1989, and rose to 1,223 in 1990. Crimes known to have been committed by young adults were predominantly property offenses. Of young adult males cautioned for or found guilty of indictable offenses in 1990, 39 percent committed an offense of theft or handling stolen goods, 16 percent of burglary, 13 percent of violent offenses against the person, 11 percent of drug offenses, 4 percent of fraud and forgery, 1 percent of sexual offenses, 1 percent of robbery, and 8 percent of other offenses. About 95,100 young adult offenders were sentenced for indictable offenses in 1990, well below the 1982 peak of 135,000. The 1990 total included 65,000 males and 9,500 females sentenced in magistrate courts, compared to 22,500 males and 1,500 females in the Crown Court. Of 84,200 young adult males receiving sentences for indictable offenses in 1990, 14 percent received custodial sentences, 41 percent fines, 14 absolute and conditional discharges, 13 percent community service orders, 13 percent probation orders, 2 percent attendance center orders, and 2 percent other sentences. In 1990, 7,287 16-year-old males and 7,628 17-year-old males per 100,000 population were cautioned for or found guilty of indictable offenses. Of these, 879 16-year-olds were sentenced to detention in a young offender institution, compared with 2,227 17-year-olds. The average sentence length was 4.4 months for 16-year-olds and 9.9 months for 17-year-olds. 4 references