NCJ Number
139479
Date Published
Unknown
Length
59 pages
Annotation
This report on juvenile crime over the last 3 years in Mid Glamorgan (South Wales) is intended as an introduction to a new information system based on the Juvenile Liaison Consultation Process (F11 System) designed to generate information envisioned by the Home Office Standing Conference. It provides background information within which to interpret juvenile delinquency trends that have been revealed by the new information system.
Abstract
To facilitate the collection of information on juvenile delinquency, the Crime Prevention Information Unit was created under the auspices of the County Crime Prevention Coordinating Committee. An important early task for the unit was to identify a source for the flow of regular statistical information on crime that would contribute to the targeting of crime prevention intervention. The two most readily available sources of statistical information on crime are detected crime and reported crime. The unit has negotiated access to reported crime figures for the county to provide some basis of comparison between detected juvenile crime and all reported crime. It will be some time before substantial information is generated by this system. To provide some indication of the character of juvenile crime within the Mid Glamorgan districts and the county, however, a retrospective study for the years 1986, 1987, and the first half of 1988 was conducted. The findings show a decline in the incidents of detected juvenile crime in comparison to the juvenile population. This decline has coincided with a policy shift away from custody toward community-based corrections and diversion from formal processing. Although it is too early to suggest that this policy has caused the decline in juvenile delinquency, the new strategy has at least not had a deleterious effect on juvenile offending. Extensive tables and figures and appended information forms