NCJ Number
204884
Date Published
2003
Length
78 pages
Annotation
This report provides an overview of juvenile court dispositions in the State of Pennsylvania during 2002 and preceding years and summarizes juvenile court statistical data provided by county juvenile probation departments.
Abstract
This report is a compilation of information and data collected from the juvenile probation departments in the State of Pennsylvania on juvenile court dispositions for the year 2002. In addition, information is included on dependency cases that have been referred to juvenile probation departments. Report highlights include: (1) the 39,333 delinquency dispositions in Pennsylvania in 2002 represent a 7.4 percent decrease from 2001; (2) in the two largest counties, Allegheny and Philadelphia, new dispositions increased from 3,179 in 2001 to 4,334 in 2002 in Allegheny, and decreased from 10,201 new dispositions in 2001 to 6,642 in 2002 in Philadelphia; (3) probation continues to be the most frequently utilized disposition; (4) public defenders handled the majority of the 25, 523 delinquency proceedings in 2002 (65 percent); (5) the majority of delinquency placements were in private institutions (30.9 percent); (6) juvenile court dispositions continue to primarily involve males--78.4 percent in 2002; (7) the majority of juvenile court dispositions in 2002 continued to involve White youth (56.4 percent); and (8) of those receiving new dispositions, there were a substantially higher percentage of dispositions involving Black youth that were transferred to criminal court (42.6 percent) compared to the percentage (32.4 percent) processed through juvenile courts. Tables and charts