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The Report offers Congress, state legislators and other state and local policymakers, professors and teachers, juvenile justice professionals, and concerned citizens empirically based answers to frequently asked questions about the nature of juvenile crime and victimization and about the justice system's response.
Citing FBI and other data sources, the Report demonstrates that the rate of juvenile violent crime arrests has consistently decreased since 1994, falling to a level not seen since at least the 1970s. However, during this period of overall decline in juvenile violence, the female proportion of juvenile violent crime arrests has increased (especially for the crime of assault), marking an important change in the types of youth entering the juvenile justice system and in their programming needs. The Report also describes when and where juvenile violent crime occurs, focusing attention on the critical afterschool hours.
Statistics presented throughout the Report find that racial disparity in the juvenile justice system is declining. For example, the black juvenile violent crime arrest rate in the late 1980s was six times the white rate-by 2003, it had fallen to four times the white rate. During the same period, the black juvenile arrest rate for drug abuse violations fell from five times to less than double the white rate.
The Report also presents new findings from OJJDP's national Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement. The daily number of committed youth held in public and private facilities increased 28% between 1991 and 2003, with the increase far greater in private than in public facilities. However, after peaking in 1999, the number of youth in custody began to fall-for the first time in a generation.
In sum, Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report offers a clear view of juvenile crime and the justice system's response at the beginning of the 21st century. It is an indispensable resource for informed professionals who strive to shape the juvenile justice system today.
National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ)
3700 S. Water Street, Suite 200
Pitsburgh, PA. 15203-2363
Source Office of Justice Programs - US Department of Justice
Credits to: Snider, Howard N., and Sickmund, Melissa. 2006 Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention.
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2006 National Report Juvenile Offenders and Victims
Separate chapters are also available for download:
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