Juveniles account for 1 in 8 violent crimes cleared.
by arrest.

In the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, a crime is
classified as cleared (or solved) when at least one person is
arrested, charged with the commission of the crime, and turned
over to a court for prosecution.  Each year law enforcement
agencies provide the FBI with data on the crimes reported to them
and the crimes cleared by arrest.  Using these data, the FBI
reports the proportion of reported crimes cleared by arrest.  In
1992, law enforcement agencies cleared 65% of reported
murders, 56% of aggravated assaults, 52% of forcible rapes, and
24% of robberies.  Combined, these four offenses form the FBI's
Violent Crime Index, the most widely used indicator of violent
crime in the U.S.  Using this indicator, it can be said that violent
crimes were cleared by arrest at a rate of 45%.

Obviously, there is no information on who committed the crimes
that were not cleared.  But if it can be assumed that the offender
profile of cleared crimes is fairly similar to the offender profile of
all crimes reported, then it is possible to develop a general
understanding of the proportion of crimes committed by juveniles
(i.e., persons under the age of 18).

In 1992, 12.8% (or 1 in 8) of all violent crimes cleared were
cleared by the arrest of a juvenile.  As the figure to the right
shows, juvenile responsibility for violent crime declined between
the late-1960s and the late- 1980s.  In fact, the juvenile
responsibility for violent crime reached its lowest level in 25
years in 1987, when, based on the clearance data, only 8.5% of
violent crimes were committed by juveniles.  Since then,
however, the juvenile contribution to the Nation's violent crime
problem has risen, growing back to the levels experienced in the
mid-1970's. 

Murder
Between the mid-1960s and the late-1980s the proportion of
murders committed by juveniles remained relatively constant,
fluctuating between 4.5% and 6.0%.  But, in 1988 the proportion
rose to 6.5%, and has increased annually since.  The proportion
of murders committed by juveniles in 1992 was the highest in a
generation.  Juveniles were responsible for 9.0% of all murders
in 1992.  

Forcible Rape
Juveniles were charged with committing 14.1% of all forcible
rapes known to police in 1992.  The juvenile responsibility for
forcible rapes declined between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s, 
from a high of 14.8% in 1968 to 9.4% in 1975.  For more
than 10 years, the proportion of forcible rapes cleared by juvenile
arrests remained relatively constant.  But, as with violent crime
in general, the proportion of forcible rapes committed by
juveniles began to grow in the late-1980s, quickly returning to the
levels of the 1960s.


Robbery
Juveniles were charged with committing 15.9% of robberies in
1992.  Between 1969 and 1989 juvenile involvement in robbery
declined substantially, dropping from 23% to 10%.  Since 1989
the proportion of robberies cleared by juvenile arrest has increase
annually, but is still far below the levels of the late-1960s.
Aggravated Assault
Unlike in the other violent offense categories, the juvenile
involvement in aggravated assaults remained relatively stable
over the period from 1965 1991, ranging between 9% and 11%. 
The 1992 level of 12.0% broke out of this historic range, but
more information is needed to determine if a new trend is
forthcoming.

For more information
This fact sheet was prepared by Howard N. Snyder, National Center for
Juvenile Justice.  The material was developed for the forthcoming National
Report on Juvenile Offending and Victimization, a product of the Juvenile
Justice Statistics and Systems Development Program funded by OJJDP
through grant #90-JN-CX-K003.  Barbara Allen-Hagen, Social Science
Analyst in OJJDP's Research and Program Development Division, served
as Program Manager.  
                                                                   FS9415