NCJ Number
101674
Date Published
1985
Length
48 pages
Annotation
Statistics on the youths committed in 1984 to the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS) by juvenile courts for criminal offenses show the offenders' characteristics and comparisons with previous years.
Abstract
The 18,408 arraignments in 1984 resulted in 756 new commitments of DYS. Commitments of females have increased slightly over the past 5 years, whereas commitments of males have declined. Burglary was the most common offense. However, the numbers of youths committed for public order offenses, sexual assault, and armed assault have increased. Regional differences exist in offender characteristics and in commitment trends. The majority of the youths came from families with divorced or separated parents. Only one-fifth of the 1984 commitments had parents with intact marriages. Females were 6 times more likely than boys to have committed public order, nonassaultive sex offenses, and unspecified delinquency. Racial differences in age at commitment, family income, and parents' marital status were all statistically significant. (Author summary modified)