Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Court, 2002

• NCJ Number: 217181
• Author(s): Anne L. Stahl
• Date Published: November 2006
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Type: Factsheet

Annotation

This Fact Sheet presents statistics on delinquency cases processed in U.S. juvenile courts in 2002.

Abstract

U.S. juvenile courts processed approximately 1,615,400 delinquency cases in 2002, an increase of 41 percent since 1985. The juvenile court delinquency caseload decreased 11 percent from 1997 to 2002, however. Public order offense cases increased 7 percent during this period and drug law violation cases increased 1 percent while the number of person offense cases dropped 2 percent and property offense cases dropped 27 percent. In 2002, females comprised 26 percent of the delinquency caseload, up from 20 percent in 1993. Females accounted for 28 percent of person offense cases, 26 percent of property offense cases, 18 percent of drug offense cases, and 28 percent of public order offense cases. During 2002, 58 percent of processed delinquency cases involved juveniles younger than 16 years at referral, down from 60 percent in 1990. White juveniles comprised 67 percent of the delinquency cases processed in juvenile courts while Black juveniles comprised 29 percent of the delinquency caseload. Juveniles were detained by courts in 20 percent of the delinquency cases handled in 2002. During this period, approximately 16 percent of all delinquency cases were dismissed at intake, 26 percent were processed informally, and 58 percent were processed formally. Juvenile court judges waived 7,100 delinquency cases to adult courts in 2002, which is 39 percent less than in 1993 and 32 percent less than in 1997. Juveniles were adjudicated delinquent in 67 percent of all delinquency cases in 2002; 62 percent of these juveniles were placed on formal probation while another 23 percent were placed in residential facilities. Figures