NCJ Number
78124
Date Published
1976
Length
17 pages
Annotation
An executive summary is provided for South Carolina court reports of juveniles processed in each county for fiscal year 1975-76.
Abstract
About 17,000 juveniles were referred to South Carolina courts over the fiscal year (excluding four counties not reporting). The heaviest concentrations were in Charleston, Greenville, Spartanburg, Richland, Lexington, and Anderson Counties, respectively. Counties referring to court the largest segments of their juvenile populations, however, were Clarendon, Chester, Kershaw, and Beaufort, where percentage of the juvenile population referred averaged 3.43 percent. Generally, more referrals occurred during the first 6 months of the year for most counties, and law enforcement agencies were by far the most frequent referral source. From the data available, status offenses are inferred to be about 29 percent of the total referrals (3,222 offenses of 11,300 offenses). The most frequent criminal offenses were breaking and entering and larceny. Data from the 38 counties indicating age, race, and sex distributions show that 60 percent of the 10,008 youth reported were white and 40 percent were black. About 75 percent were male, and those aged 15 and 16 accounted for 56 percent of the referrals. In the vast majority of cases, petitions were filed for adjudication at intake. Of the adjudications, probation constituted 33 percent of all dispositions, and about 5 percent were committed to training schools. In the 10 counties providing recidivist data, the recidivism rate was about 28 percent. Tabular data are provided. (Author abstract modified)