Discuss the juvenile arrest trends presented in the text. Do you feel this information is different or the same as presented in the media? Why or why not?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• The latest data available tells us that about 13.6 million arrests are now being made each year, or about 4,500 per 100,000 population. Of these, more than 2.3 million were for serious Part I crimes and 11 million for less serious Part II crimes.
• Juveniles were responsible for about 15 percent of the Part I violent crime arrests and about 24 percent of the property crime arrests.
• Because kids ages 14 to 17 who account for almost all underage arrests constitute only about 6 percent of the population, these data show that teens account for a significantly disproportionate share of all arrests.
• About 1.1 million juvenile arrests were made in 2009 for Part II offenses which includes status type offenses.
• Recent trends in the juvenile delinquency mirror the overall crime rate: the juvenile arrest rate began to climb in the 1980s, peaked during the mid-1990s, and then began to fall; it has since been in decline.
• Even the teen murder rate, which had remained stubbornly high, has undergone a decline during the past few years. Overall the number of arrests for juvenile violent crime declined by 15 percent in the past decade and serious property crime arrests by 20 percent.
• In all, about 68,000 youth 18 and under are being arrested for violent crimes and 334,000 for property crimes.
• Despite a continuing barrage covering the havoc caused by violent youth gangs roaming the streets, arrests of juveniles actually decreased about 9 percent in a single year alone.
• Student views will vary.