This fact sheet summarizes data on juvenile arrests during the period of 1988 to 1992, taken from the FBI's Crime in the United States 1992.
Statistics are provided on the arrests of persons under age 18, and age 15, in 1992, by type of offense. These statistics include the number of females, and types of offense; number of whites, Blacks, Native Americans, and Asian/Pacific Islanders, including types of offense for whites. Using the States differing legal definitions of "juvenile," the number of juvenile arrests were referred to a juvenile court, criminal or adult court, a welfare agency, or a police department agency. It was noted that juvenile arrests grew at a greater rate (11 percent) than adult arrests (6 percent) between 1988 and 1992. The Violent Crime Index shows that juvenile arrests for a violent crime increased also during that time period, with substantial differences in each of the four components, murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. It is also noted that the juvenile increase was greater than the adult increase in other crime categories such as, weapon law violations, motor vehicle theft, simple assault, disorderly conduct, and running away.