Just how much delinquency is going on?

Defining/Measuring Juvenile CrimeTrends in Juvenile Delinquency, and

Abuse/NeglectThe Danger of Misusing Data

Measure of Interest for Juveniles

• Non-Delinquent Activity (Status Offenses)– Hard to get reliable information– Self-report probably most accurate

• Delinquent Activity (“Crime” for adults)– Same sources of information as for adults, but

how to tease out age?

• Abuse/Neglect Cases– Official Data very suspect

Uniform Crime Reports

• Best for Serious Offenses/Crime Trends– Offenses Known to police (useless for JD)– Arrests/Crimes Cleared by Arrest Keep

information for <18 years• Bias = police discretion& practices, reporting

• Serious crimes <bias (discretion, reporting)• Murder most reliable • Downside = only most serious offenders included

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

• National household victimization survey– For juveniles, cannot assess property crime– National Trends for Juvenile Violent Crime

can be estimated • Aggravated Assault, Robbery, Forcible Rape (Not

Murder)

• Upside = dark figure

• Downside = know age of offender?

Self-Report Surveys

• No government sponsored annual national level survey (not used for “trends”)– Many different researchers with national

surveys, some longitudinal:• National Youth Survey (NYS)• National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY)• Monitoring the Future Survey

• Best Uses = Correlates of Delinquency– Especial for theory testing, but also race and

gender differences

Self-Report II

• The Good– Measure all kinds of correlates– Not subject to “official bias”

• The Bad– Difficult to measure serious crime (rare event)– Difficult to get/retain chronic offenders

• Therefore, SR surveys tend to measure minor forms of delinquency

– Various survey biases (people lie, can’t remember, etc.)

What do we know? Current Levels of Delinquency

• 2001 UCR Arrest Information (<18 years)– 2.3 million arrests– Arrests peaked in 1994, and declined

thereafter (NCVS follow similar pattern)• Violent Crime Index declined for 7th straight year• Murder rate from 1993-2001 down 70%

• Self-Report: 20% of 12th Graders report using an illicit drug in past 30 days.

Self-Report ExampleMTF: Use of Pot in Past 30 Days

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What does the NCVS say?

• Confined to Violent Crime

• Unsurprising much violent juvenile offending unreported to police– Average Crime Rate—1980 to 1998

• UCR: 5/100,000• NCVS: 44-75/100,000

– Why? (From victim survey)• Only 20% reported to police• Of those, only 50% lead to arrest

NCVS Crime Trends

• The Broad Trend in UCR Violent Crime Index is similar to NCVS (Violent Crimes)– Both decrease in early 1980s, followed by

increase from mid-1980s to mid 1990s– Both show substantial drop after mid 1990s

• Differences?– NCVS offending drops more (60%) in late

1990s than UCR (27%)

Why has juvenile crime declined?

Juveniles have declined in the population?NO: The proportion of juveniles has been

increasing in the 1990s (echo boomers are coming)

Poverty, Economy, Public Policy?No clear indications of This

Best Argument I’ve Seen?Crack Epidemic Produced most of the violence

in…now the drug markets have stabilized

“Super Predators”: Ideology and A Fools Errand

• John DiIulio et al. Body Count (1996)– Super Predators Thesis– Juvenile crime rates will continue to spiral out

of control– By 2010, some 270,000 “SP’s” will wreck

havoc on society• TIME Magazine (1996): “Ticking Time Bomb”

– Advocated unsealing juvenile records, mandatory minimums, waiver…”get tough”

• Legislation Follows (G.W. in Texas)

Debate Tips

• Come prepared– Outline major points– Do a timed “practice run” – Prepare handout or slide show– Prepare closing statement

Paper Tips

• ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE– Use “sub-headings”– DON’T simply cut and paste three papers

together– Address issues raised during the debate– Acknowledge/refute opposite position