This topic describes felony arrests of youth ages 10 to 17. Felony arrests, which are more serious than misdemeanors, tend to involve injury or substantial property loss. Felony crimes include violent offenses (homicide, rape, robbery, assault, and kidnapping); property offenses (burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, forgery, and arson); drug and alcohol offenses, sex offenses; and other offenses (such as weapons, hit-and-run, and bookmaking). Current indicators on kidsdata.org include:
- Juvenile felony arrest rates, by age, gender, and race/ethnicity
- The number of juvenile felony arrests, which includes city-level data
- The number and percentage of juvenile felony arrests by age, gender, and type of offense
Youth who have been arrested are at risk of not gaining the educational credentials they need to succeed as adults or to obtain sustained employment. Without appropriate services and support, such youth also may be at risk for re-arrest. A number of other risk factors contribute to juvenile crime. Negative peer influences, including gang membership and bullying, are strongly correlated with juvenile crime. Children with a history of abuse/neglect, mental health issues, or significant family problems are more likely to be arrested.
Juvenile felony or misdemeanor arrest rates are not perfect indicators of actual criminal activity. The number of arrests can shift as a result of changes in the number of police on the streets, legislative or judicial action to increase or reduce penalties, or trends in prosecutors’ charging decisions. Many felony charges are reduced to misdemeanors or are dismissed in the later phases of the court process. State and national data show racial/ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system.
The U.S. Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act reauthorization in 2002 required that states assess and address the disproportionate contact of youth of color at every point within the juvenile justice system.
Source: Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health. (2007). Santa Clara County Children's Report, http://www.kidsdata.org/santaclarareport/
The juvenile justice system is responsible for protecting society from crime and delinquency, holding youth offenders accountable, and rehabilitating them. Policymakers within the justice, social services, and education systems can play a role in improving the way society addresses juvenile crime. Of the youth who enter California’s juvenile justice system, an estimated 40-70% have mental health issues (2). The process for adjudicating youth offenders often does not have the intended effect on crime control (1), and it does not always take into account the relative public safety risk or circumstances of individual youth. The vast majority of youth offenders are re-arrested within two years of release, and a sizable percentage are re-incarcerated (3).
According to research and subject experts, policy options that could reduce juvenile felonies include:
- Improving systems of care to address the mental health needs of juvenile
offenders, from initial screening or assessment at first contact with
the juvenile justice system to provision of appropriate treatment to
incarcerated youth (2)
- Addressing recidivism by reforming policies that increase the likelihood
to re-offend, and providing services that decrease it (4), such as
interpersonal skills training, behavioral programs, counseling, and
community-based, family-style group homes tailored to the needs of the
offenders (5). Creating community capacities to provide a safety net and
structure for youth at risk of delinquency also can be effective (6).
- Examining and improving existing policies for processing youth offenders through the juvenile justice system; policies should allow for case-specific assessment of the individual, the severity of the offense, the public safety risk posed by the youth, and the potential effects of system processing (1)
For more policy ideas on juvenile justice, visit the Governor’s Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy, the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. Also see Policy Implications on kidsdata.org under the topics Truancy, Suspensions & Expulsions, High School Dropouts, School Connectedness, and Gang Involvement.
Sources for this narrative:
- Petrosino, et al. (2010). Formal System Processing of Juveniles: Effects on Delinquency (Campbell Collaboration). http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rstudy/64
- Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice. (2010). Mental Health Issues in California’s Juvenile Justice System. http://www.law.berkeley.edu/img/BCCJ_Mental_Health_Policy_Brief_May_2010.pdf
- California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. (2010). Juvenile Justice Outcomes Evaluation Report: Youth Released from the Division of Juvenile Justice. http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/docs/Recidivism%20Report.FY0405.%20FINAL.DJJ.pdf
- Redding, Richard E. (2010). Juvenile Transfer Laws: An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency? (Juvenile Justice Bulletin, US Department of Justice). http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/220595.pdf
- Lipsey, et al. (2010). Effective Interventions for Serious Juvenile Offenders. (Juvenile Justice Bulletin, US Department of Justice). http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/181201.pdf
- Kubrin, et al. (2006). "Predicting Who Reoffends: The Neglected Role of Neighborhood Context In Recidivism Studies." Criminology, 44(1), 165-197. http://www.gwu.edu/~soc/docs/Kubrin_predicting.pdf
From 1998 to 2004, the juvenile felony arrest rate dropped substantially statewide and in California’s most populous counties, then increased slightly from 2005-2008. Statewide, boys and older youth (ages 13-17) account for the vast majority of juvenile felony arrests, and African American youth are arrested at much higher rates than their peers in other racial/ethnic groups. In 2008, 39% of juvenile felony arrests were for property offenses, 27% for violent offenses, 23% for other offenses (e.g. weapons, hit-and-run), 9% for drug and alcohol offenses, and 2% for sex offenses. The rate of juvenile felony arrests varies by county, from 7.7 per 1,000 youth ages 10-17 in Humboldt County to 34.7 in San Francisco in 2008. Keep in mind that the rate of arrests can be influenced by multiple factors, and are an imperfect measure of juvenile criminal activity.