This bulletin provides an overview of the Nation's juvenile crime problem by analyzing arrest data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
In 2012, law enforcement agencies in the United States made just over 1.3 million arrests of persons under age 18 (juveniles). All four offenses that composed the Violent Crime Index decreased considerably between 2008 and 2012; arrests for murder declined 42 percent; for rape, a 24-percent decline; for robbery, a 39-percent decline; and for aggravated assault, a 35-percent decrease. In 2012, there were an estimated 224,200 arrests of juveniles for larceny-theft. Just over 40 percent of these arrests involved females; 29 percent involved youth younger than age 15, and 61 percent involved white youth. Youth younger than age 15 accounted for 59 percent of all juvenile arrests for arson in 2012 and nearly 40 percent of juvenile arrests for simple assault, vandalism, and disorderly conduct. Females accounted for 9 percent of juvenile arrests for murder but 26 percent of juvenile arrests for aggravated assault and 37 percent of juvenile arrests for simple assault. 6 tables and 13 figures