NCJ Number
206662
Date Published
October 2002
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Data for this 2000 annual report on West Virginia's juvenile probation cases were obtained from the State's juvenile justice database, which includes information on juvenile probation submitted by the county juvenile probation offices.
Abstract
In 2000, West Virginia juvenile probation officers reported managing 9,463 cases that involved 7,041 juveniles. More than 8,000 new cases were opened, with nearly 13,000 offenses charged and over 8,000 cases disposed. More delinquency offenses than status offenses were charged in these cases, with assault being the most frequently charged delinquency offense and truancy being the most frequently charged status offense. For both delinquency and status offense cases, a majority of the juveniles had no known prior status or delinquency offenses. Most juvenile offenders were White males who averaged 15 years old at the time of their offenses. Females were involved in status offenses at a higher rate than in delinquency cases. A majority of juveniles offenders were enrolled in mainstream education programs and living with at least one parent at the time of their offenses. More than half of the delinquency cases involved a formal disposition, and almost three-fourths of status offense cases involved an informal disposition. Of the 9,463 probation cases handled in 2000, 90.5 percent were opened in 2000, and 9.5 percent were opened in previous years but were disposed in 2000. Of the 7,041 juveniles placed on probation in 2000, 69.2 percent were charged with at least one delinquency offense, and 30.8 percent were charged with only status offenses. Of the 8,108 case dispositions in 2000, 51.2 percent were resolved informally and 48.8 percent were resolved formally. 8 tables and 9 graphs