Juvenile Crime Prevention and Statistics
Juvenile crime peaked at a rate of almost 500 incidents per 100,000 people in 1994, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. That number fell 72 percent to 2,400 per 100,000 in recent years. Still, the number of juveniles involved in violent crime is staggering: those under age 18 are responsible for 10 percent of all violent crime and 14 percent of property crime in the U.S. Over 21,000 youth under age 18 are annually arrested for assault, and more than 600 for murder.
Recent news reports show that small cities across the country may be experiencing a surge in juvenile crime, particularly those involving firearms. Places like San Angelo, Texas; Alexandria, Lousiana; Logan, Utah; Anchorage, Alaska; Dubuque, Iowa; Gainesville, Georgia, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota have seen their violent crime rates spike 30 percent or more in recent years. Some point to gang recruitment of young children as a reason for violent crime and homicides but poverty and unemployment play roles as well.
The cost to send youthful offenders to detention facilities is $5 billion annually.
Statistical analysis and prevention
Prevention of violence and crime among youth is a challenging and nuanced subject. A book on the topic says that crime reporting itself is an issue, as the number of arrests is counted more accurately than the number of crimes, and no attempt is made to match frequent offenders with repeated crimes. This oversight leads to overcounting the number of individuals involved in crime, making it appear that more juveniles are committing crimes than actually do.
Likewise, lawmakers respond to these statistics with generalized policies that seek to punish whole categories of perpetrators rather than root out the problem. The drop in crime from the mid-1990s to 2017 is attributed to any and all of the following factors:
- the addition of some 88,000 police officers through the Clinton crime bill;
- longer prison sentences due to criminal enhancement policies;
- the hypothesis that lead in paint and gasoline contributed to crime over many decades but was removed in time to affect an entire generation, accounting for the decline in crime seen from the mid-1990s onward;
- the theory (debunked) that legalized abortion resulted in fewer births of unwanted children to residents of crime-plagued inner-city neighborhoods; and
- COMPSTAT policing, a data-driven approach to allocation of police resources.
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, a national initiative created in 2003 and reauthorized in 2018, seeks to continue juvenile justice diversion programs that save money and reduce repeat offenders by removing youth from adult courts and correctional facilities and expand access to community-based crime prevention programs.
Preventing juvenile crime begins early
It is well known that those who commit crimes likely started as victims of crimes, such as the attacker who was the object of physical or sexual abuse as a child. Statistics show that domestic abuse is rampant, frequently victimizing children. National statistics show that youth ages 10 to 24 are killed at a rate of 12 per day, making homicide the third leading cause of death for the age group; young men are the most frequent victims and likely to be killed by firearms.
Experts say early indicators of youth crime and violence include:
- lack of a calm, stable home environment as early as ages 0-3;
- lack of self-control, which contributes to tolerance for violence;
- abuse and neglect in the home, which raises the probability of the child engaging in crime by 24 to 59 percent; and
- access to quality childcare, including nutrition and education.
Access to education at every age is another issue that contributes to juvenile crime and eventually, adult crime. Those whose parents are uneducated or do not have resources to access education for their children, as well as children who go to school erratically, late, malnourished, or unrested, start life at a disadvantage that predisposes them to a life of poverty and crime. As children grow, their engagement at school is key, as is a supportive, stable, and nonviolent home environment.
Juveniles are more likely to get involved in crime if:
- there is violence in the home;
- they are failing in school;
- a family member is involved in crime; or
- drug use is a part of their lives.
The first juvenile court was held in Chicago in 1899; since then juvenile justice has developed to encompass an understanding of stages in life as well as opportunities to divert youth from probable careers in crime. For this reason juvenile criminal proceedings are held privately and juvenile records sealed from public view. Very little of a juvenile record may affect a person’s prosecution as an adult, unless charges are serious enough to merit treatment as an adult or consideration as a repeat offender.
Rehabilitation of youthful offenders is an integral part of crime prevention strategies which may include:
- emotional and behavioral therapy;
- drug treatment programs;
- parenting classes;
- special education; and
- trade school.
This recognition of youth as a primary period to curb crime resulted in the formation of organizations and efforts to provide athletic and educational diversions for young people, and to make mentors available. A few of the organizations involved in this effort include:
- Police Athletic League;
- Urban League;
- Community service programs;
- YMCA programs in the U.S. and Canada;
- Police Cadet programs in Los Angeles; and
- Boys and Girls Clubs across the country.