NCJ Number
199104
Date Published
2001
Length
84 pages
Annotation
This report provides an overview of juvenile court dispositions in Pennsylvania during 2001 and preceding years and summarizes juvenile court statistical data provided by county juvenile probation departments.
Abstract
Although the report focuses on delinquency dispositions, information has again been included on dependency cases that have been referred to juvenile probation departments, since some juvenile probation departments provide services to children who are alleged to be dependent on the basis of ungovernability or chronic truancy. The 42,486 delinquency dispositions in Pennsylvania in 2001 constituted a 1.4-percent increase from 2000 and a 16.1-percent increase since 1997. The statewide increase in delinquency dispositions from 2000 to 2001 is attributable to the increase in the number of dispositions in Philadelphia County. Probation was the most often used disposition (24.4 percent), followed in descending order by consent decree (14.7 percent), informal adjustment (11.9 percent), placement (10.1 percent), complaint withdrawn (9.2 percent), dismissed/not substantiated (8.1 percent), warned/counseled/case closed (5 percent), and fines/costs ordered (4.3 percent). Males accounted for 79.2 percent of all juvenile court dispositions, 83.8 percent of probation dispositions, 89.7 percent of dispositions that involved placement, and 97.9 percent of transfers to criminal court. The majority of juvenile court delinquency dispositions in 2001 involved white children (53.4 percent), followed by Black children (34.6 percent), Hispanic children (7.2 percent), and Asian children (.7 percent). There were 4,118 substantiated drug charges, a 13-percent increase from 2000 and a 36.9-percent increase since 1998. There were 100 substantiated rape charges, a 40.9-percent increase from 2000. Placements were involved in 10.1 percent of all delinquency dispositions in 2001, which has been relatively unchanged since 1997. Extensive tables and figures