NCJ Number
94429
Date Published
1984
Length
63 pages
Annotation
This report provides a quantitative description of the frequency with which the juvenile court was used to dispose of delinquency and dependency/neglect matters in 1980.
Abstract
A discussion of the characteristics and limitations of juvenile court statistics notes that the unit of count in this report is the case, not the child. Overall, these statistics reflect a 6.7-percent increase in delinquency cases disposed of by the courts between 1979 and 1980. In addition, juvenile courts appear to be handling a greater proportion of the youth population than they were in late 1950's. Between 1957 and 1980, the rate of female cases increased more than the rate of male cases, although males continued to predominate. Courts in urban areas received delinquency cases at greater rates than those in rural and suburban areas. Statistics on handling methods suggest that the courts are trying to divert youthful offenders away from the more formal court processes. The processing of dependency cases is becoming a smaller portion of the workloads of the juvenile courts, and males and females are almost equally represented in these cases. An estimated 73 percent of all dependency cases were handled formally by the courts, the highest level since 1974. The report examines methods used in developing these national estimates and tables provide data on number and rate of delinquency and dependency case dispositions, with breakdowns for gender, type of area, method of handling, and trends since 1957. A glossary and table of cases disposed by reporting counties in 1980 are included.