NCJ Number
99492
Date Published
1985
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This analysis of 811 youths, all individuals born in Franklin County, Ohio, between 1956 and 1958 who had at least 1 contact with the Columbus City Police for a violent offense, refutes the media-generated belief in widespread, serious juvenile violence.
Abstract
The cohort data were compiled from an examination of the records of the 50,875 persons meeting the birth criteria. The 811 youths arrested constituted 1.6 percent of the total age-eligible cohort and only 5.1 percent of all age-eligible delinquents in Franklin County. Most were arrested for minor violent acts, with only 27.2 percent arrested for serious violent offenses such as murder, rape, or aggravated assault. Only 21 youths were arrested 2 or more times for serious violent offenses during their juvenile careers. These truly violent individuals made up .04 percent of the age-eligible cohort and .1 percent of the estimated Franklin County delinquent cohort. The 811 youths were arrested a total of 3,373 times and were charged with 4,445 offenses. Violent offenses, however, made up only 29.2 percent of their arrest records. These findings indicate that the term violent delinquent or dangerous offender is subject to misuse. Many of these violent arrests were for minor events with little harm resulting, such as neighborhood fistfights. For others, a violent arrest was a small part of a wider range of delinquent activities. The research also suggests that the media may have distorted the extent and nature of the violence problem and that proposals to subject all youths arrested for violent offenses to the adult system could also impact petty and nonviolent offenders. Tables, footnotes, and one reference are included.