NCJ Number
110854
Date Published
1988
Length
79 pages
Annotation
The prevalence, content, and structure of law-violating careers of juvenile offenders were examined through an analysis of the court careers of the 69,504 youths born between 1962 and 1965 who were processed by the juvenile courts in Maricopa County, Ariz., and in Utah.
Abstract
Thus, the analysis focused on delinquency from the perspective of the juvenile court rather than from the law enforcement perspective used in other studies. Five percent of the youths referred to juvenile court were charged at some point in their careers with an Index violent offense. Three percent of all careers included an aggravated assault referral and 2 percent a charge of robbery. Charges of forcible rape and murder were found in less than .5 percent of all careers. More than half of all court careers contained a referral for an Index property offense. Forty-two percent of the youth began their court careers at age 16 or 17. Youth first referred to court at the ages of 9, 10, or 11 had twice as many referrals in their careers whose first referral occurred at age 15. The court careers of 59 percent of the youths ended with the first referral. Forty-six percent of the males and 29 percent of the females had more than one court referral. Longer careers contained a larger proportion of serious offenses than did shorter careers. The finding of developmental offense patterns supports the search for risk-screening instruments to indicate future law-violating behavior. In addition, strong action should be taken after the second offense rather than waiting for the fourth or fifth offense. Figures, tables, 22 references, and appended lists of offenses.