NCJ Number
217783
Date Published
2006
Length
79 pages
Annotation
This report presents an overview of juvenile court dispositions in Pennsylvania in 2005 and preceding years and summarizes juvenile court statistical data provided by county juvenile probation departments.
Abstract
The primary unit of count is the "disposition," which is defined as "a referral disposed of by the juvenile probation department and/or the court." It involves the implementation of a definite action/decision or a treatment plan. A summary table shows county-by-county data on delinquency and dependency cases for 2005. The number of total dispositions is shown for each county, and the following county data are shown separately for delinquency and dependency cases: subtotal of dispositions, new referrals, disposition reviews, and placement reviews. For the entire State, there were 92,279 total dispositions in 2005, of which 90,593 were delinquency cases and 1,686 were dependency cases. Of the 90,593 delinquency cases, 45,504 were new referrals, 27,747 were disposition reviews, and 17,342 were placement reviews. Of the 1,686 dependency cases, 1,389 were new referrals, 124 were disposition reviews, and 173 were placement reviews. The 45,504 delinquency dispositions in 2005 represented a 4.5-percent increase from 2004 and a 10.9-percent increase since 2003. Probation continues to be the most frequently used disposition, composing 17.9 percent of all delinquency dispositions. Delinquency placements to private institutions, including those resulting from disposition reviews comprised 35.6 percent of the 7,044 total delinquency placements in 2005, followed in descending order by placements to boot camps (15.9 percent) and group homes (12.2 percent). Juvenile court dispositions continue to involve primarily males (75.8 percent of all juvenile court dispositions). Of the dispositions that involved males, 59 percent were White and 38.8 percent were Black. Tables and figures