NCJ Number
67085
Date Published
1980
Length
154 pages
Annotation
DESIGNED AS A REFERENCE DOCUMENT, THIS REPORT PRESENTS NATIONAL ESTIMAES OF CASES PROCESSED BY THE JUVENILE COURTS DURING 1976, INFORMATION ON THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM, AND A DATA SCHEME.
Abstract
THE DATA USED TO DERIVE THE NATIONAL ESTIMATES IN THIS REPORT CAME FROM A PORTION OF THE NATIONAL DATA BASE COLLECTED BY THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE (NCJS) FOR 1976. THE TOTAL DATA BASE CONTAINS MORE THAN 707,000 CASE RECORDS COLLECTED FROM 17 STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. DATA FROM NEW YORK, IDAHO, SOUTH DAKOTA, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WERE EXCLUDED FROM THE ESTIMATING SAMPLE BECAUSE OF INTERNAL VARIANCES IN REPORTING METHODS. THE SAMPLE USED TO GENERATE NATIONAL ESTIMATES INCLUDED DATA FROM 849 OF THE NATION'S 3,141 COUNTIES; IT REPRESENTED 35.2 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL CHILD POPULATION WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE JUVENILE COURTS NATIONALLY. FOR 1976, THE CHILD POPULATION AT RISK, OR THE NUMBER OF YOUNG PEOPLE FROM AGE 10 TO THE UPPER AGE OF JUVENILE COURT JURISDICTION, WAS 30,247,000. FOR THAT YEAR, THIS POPULATION PRODUCED AN ESTIMATED 1,396,800 CASES PROCESSED BY COURTS WITH JUVENILE JURISDICTION, OR 46.2 CASES PER THOUSAND CHILD POPULATION AT RISK. THIS REPRESENTS AN INCREASE OF 0.4 CASES PER THOUSAND OVER 1975 OR A RATE INCREASE OF 0.9 PERCENT. THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF CASES DECREASED BY 9,300 OR 0.7 PERCENT OVER 1975. IN ADDITION, THERE WERE THREE TIMES AS MANY CASES PROCESSED INVOLVING MALES AS CASES INVOLVING FEMALES. FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLES PRESENT DATA BROKEN DOWN BY SEX, RACE, AGE, AND REASON FOR REFERRAL AND ALSO A JUVENILE JUSTICE FLOW DIAGRAM. STATISTICAL AND DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES ARE DESCRIBED AND LIMITATIONS OF ESTIMATES AND USER'S GUIDE ARE GIVEN TO ASSIST THE READER IN INTERPRETING THE DATA. UNIVARIATE AND BIVARIATE TABLES AND AN INDEX TO BIVARIATE FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONS ARE ALSO PROVIDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--AOP).