NCJ Number
75185
Date Published
1966
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Six factors are used by the California Delinquency Commission and the Department of the Youth Authority to measure the relative amount of juvenile delinquency and to note trends: arrest of juveniles for delinquent acts, first referrals to juvenile probation departments, admissions to juvenile halls, initial petitions files in juvenile court, numbers of juveniles made wards of the juvenile court, and first commitments to the youth authority.
Abstract
California's Delinquency Prevention Commission has concluded that the most reliable indicators of delinquency, in general, show a steady rate without any significant rise: the great increase in the gross number of juvenile delinquents can be explained almost entirely in terms of population growth. Those indices reflecting a delinquency increase are either related to the direct activities, resources, and interests of the local police departments or are inflated by statistical procedures which do not separate repeat offenders from first offenders. The greater the police activity, the greater the number of arrests. This, in turn, means referral to probation departments for delinquent acts. It is possible to generalize by saying that each year in California, for every 100,000 children in the 10-17 age group, approximately 7,000 are arrested for a delinquent act (of the total arrests, 25 percent are repeaters); 2,964 children are referred to probation departments; 2,300 are detained in juvenile halls (it is estimated that 25 percent of juvenile hall admissions are repeaters); 932 are made juvenile court wards; and 165 are committed to the youth authority for training and rehabilitation. Tabular data and graphs are included. (Author abstract modified)