NCJ Number
99812
Date Published
Unknown
Length
44 pages
Annotation
A review of arrest trends for status offenses before and after the passage of California's AB3121, which prohibits the secure detention of status offenders, found that the law produced a significant decline in status offense arrests in all counties.
Abstract
Arrest data were obtained primarily from the Bureau of Criminal Statistics for 2 years before and 2 years after the implementation of AB3121 (1977). Data consist of individual arrest records aggregated by county and month. Data were also obtained on the demographic, economic, political, and bureaucratic characteristics of the counties and their justice systems for the focal time period. Cross-sectional, multivariate, interrupted time-series analysis was used to determine the form and magnitude of the impact (if any) of AB3121 on arrest rates for status offenses, as well as to identify the role (if any) of the various county characteristics in determining the impact. All counties in the sample (some small counties were not included in the study) experienced a decline in status offense arrests, usually an abrupt decline. Some counties, however, experienced a more gradual reduction from a higher pre-AB3121 level to an asymptotical post-AB3121 value. In the next phase of the study, this difference in the form of the impact will be regressed on county characteristics to analyze why the pattern of arrest decline varies from county to county. Tabular data and 21 references.