NCJ Number
87078
Journal
Juvenile and Family Court Journal Volume: 33 Issue: 4 Dated: (November 1982) Pages: 37-42
Date Published
1982
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study examines the extent of official violent juvenile delinquency in Franklin County, Ohio, and implications are drawn for proposals that would make the juvenile justice system more like the adult system for processing offenders.
Abstract
The study population was all Franklin County, Ohio, youths who had at least one contact with the Columbus City Police Department for a violent offense (murder, manslaughter, armed and unarmed robbery, aggravated and simple assault, rape, sexual imposition, and molesting) and who were born in the years 1956-58. All juvenile records from Jan. 1, 1956, to Dec. 31, 1976, were searched for any youth who had been in contact with the police for any of the specified violent offenses. The 811 youths arrested constituted 1.6 percent of the total age-eligible cohort. Statistics were not available for the total number of youths born in 1956-58 who had any contact with the juvenile justice system. If it is assumed that about one-third of all age-eligible youths were ever in contact with the law, this means that about 16,000 youths were delinquent. The 811 violent youths then represent 5.1 percent of all age-eligible delinquents in the county. Most of these youths were arrested for minor violent acts, and only 21 youths were arrested two or more times for 'serious' violent offenses during their juvenile careers (.04 percent of the age-eligible cohort and 0.1 percent of the estimated county delinquent cohort). While Franklin County statistics may not be generalizable to large metropolitan areas, it does suggest that the media-generated belief in widespread, serious juvenile violence does not hold for all areas in a given State. Statewide sweeping reform in a juvenile justice system based upon the belief in widespread serious juvenile violence is therefore not warranted. Tabular data and 16 notes are provided.