NCJ Number
144639
Date Published
1993
Length
8 pages
Annotation
A recently implemented national individual-level data reporting system has made possible the analysis of juvenile custody data based on age, race, gender, and jurisdiction.
Abstract
NCCD (National Council on Crime and Delinquency) has applied a measure of "prevalence" the estimated proportion of at-risk juveniles who are likely to be committed to State custody by age 18-not to be confused with "incidence," which indicates the number of times juveniles are taken into custody, not the number of individual juveniles. Data are given for 16 selected States, with particular attention to New York. Among the atypical findings were the following: Overall, prevalence rates were highest in Ohio (1.55 percent) and lowest in Massachusetts (0.56 percent). Rates for white juveniles were less than 1 percent in all the States but that of other racial groups varied widely. For example, blacks' rates ranged from a high of 8.32 percent in Utah (the highest of any race or gender group) to a low of 1.91 percent in Louisiana. High rates were also found for males in Ohio (2.75 percent), blacks in Wisconsin (7.66 percent), and Hispanics in North Dakota (4.10 percent). Black males' prevalence rates were especially high in Utah (13.92 percent) and Wisconsin (13.86 percent). 7 tables, 3 figures, and 15 references