NCJ Number
123452
Date Published
1954
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Juvenile court statistics for 1950-52 cover numbers of cases processed by type, delinquency trends, offender sex and age, detention, and disposition; similar data are provided for dependency-and-neglect cases.
Abstract
In 1951, 458 juvenile courts provided complete reports; 586 reported in 1952. Trend data are based on information supplied by approximately 200 comparable courts. Approximately 385,000 juveniles (approximately 2 percent of all children in the United States aged 10-17) were processed by juvenile courts in delinquency cases in 1952. More than half of all juvenile court cases were handled unofficially, i.e., without filing a petition for a formal judicial hearing. For 1952, the boys in delinquency cases outnumbered the girls 5 to 1. Most juveniles brought before the courts in 1951 were 14 years old or older. One-third of the delinquent children in 1951 were detained overnight or longer pending a court hearing; 1 in 4 of those detained were held in jails or police stations. In 1951 most unofficial cases were "dismissed" or "adjusted." The most frequent disposition for official delinquency was probation. In 1951, dependency-and-neglect cases increased for the first time since 1947, and they were much younger than those in delinquency cases, having a median age of 6 1/2 years. Data on various types of juvenile court cases are provided by State and the larger counties. 12 tables.