NCJ Number
172000
Date Published
1996
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper examines arrest data for the period 1976-1994 in an effort to delineate trends in the number of juvenile arrests in North Carolina during that period.
Abstract
Comparison of 1976 and 1994 juvenile arrest statistics documents an increase in the total number of arrests for juveniles under 16, and 16- and 17-year-old delinquents. In general, juvenile arrests reached peak heights in the late 1970s, and were followed by a decline or leveling off period during the early and mid-1980s. This decline was abruptly interrupted in the late 1980s when juvenile arrests escalated sharply. This increase persisted into the early 1990s; the number of 1994 arrests was well beyond the previously high number recorded in 1976. The most distinctive aspect of this increase was the rise in the number of juveniles arrested for the most serious and violent offenses. While the State did experience high levels of juvenile arrests for drugs and violent crime in the late 1970s, that period was marked by the lack of a concurrently high level of juvenile weapon arrests. Today's combination of even higher levels of arrests for violent crime, more drug arrests, and more weapon arrests could be a particularly volatile mix for the late 1990s and beyond. Figures, notes, references