NCJ Number
90150
Date Published
1982
Length
112 pages
Annotation
This 1981 report provides data from all California city and county law enforcement agencies regarding the number of minors securely detained for any length of time during the year and whether any minors were detained for more than 24 hours.
Abstract
All survey forms sent to 530 law enforcement agencies were returned. Of the 530 agencies, 296 reported holding one or more minors for at least some length of time close to the number of agencies holding minors in 1980. There were 121,317 reported detentions of minors (78 percent in police facilities and 22 percent in sheriff's facilities), a 7 percent decrease in the number of detentions reported in 1980. A total of 104 agencies reported holding 2,978 status offenders in secure detention for some period of time. There were 1,419 detentions in excess of 24 hours, 9 percent lower than the number reported in 1980. The average length of stay in detention was 8.9 days; however, the median was 1.9 days, meaning that half the cases stayed 1.9 days or less. Males were detained more often than females by a ratio of 9 to 1. Two-thirds of the detainees were either 16 or 17 year-olds, and 7.8 percent were under 14 years-old. While a felony offense was the reason for detaining 54.1 percent of the cases, 28 percent were held over 24 hours on a misdemeanor charge. Only seven minors were adult court remands. The appendix provides data for juvenile detentions for 1976-1981 grouped by counties. Tabular data from the survey are provided, and 1981 juvenile detentions are summarized by county.