Chapter 3 Juvenile Crime, Criminals, and Victims Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter Outline I. Issues in the Measurement of Juvenile Crime II. Measuring the Extent of Juvenile Crime A. Official Records and Measures 1. Law Enforcement Statistics a. Uniform Crime Reports b. Violent Crime Index c. Property Crime Index 2. Juvenile Court Statistics a. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention b. Funnel Effect 3. Juvenile Correctional Statistics Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter Outline—Continued 1. Strengths and Problems With Official Records and Measures a. Dark Figure of Crime b. Victimless Crimes c. Hierarchy Rule d. National Incident Based Reporting System B. Victimization Statistics and Measures 1. Strengths and Weaknesses with Victimization Statistics and Measures C. Self-Report Statistics and Measures 1. Strengths and Weaknesses With Self-Report and Statistics and Measures Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter Outline—Continued A. Comparison of the Three Methods 1. Official Statistics 2. Victimization Surveys 3. Self-Report Surveys III. Trends in Juvenile Crime and Statistics IV. Juvenile Victimization Rates and Trends V. Risk and Protective Factors in Juvenile Delinquency A. Biology and Genetics B. Family Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Issues in the Measurement of Juvenile Crime Measuring total crime in the U.S. is extremely difficult. The juvenile justice system is decentralized. Each jurisdiction has its own records. Record-keeping is subject to confidentiality and sealing restrictions. There are many sentencing options available for juveniles. Statistics are often dated. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Causation/Correlation Correlates – variables that are related to each other. Should not be interpreted to imply causation. Risk factors – variables that research has found to be correlated with delinquency Protective factors – variables that research has found to protect a juvenile from becoming delinquent Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Measuring Crime: Official Records Official records: statistics and data collected by law enforcement agencies, courts, and correctional institutions. Uniform Crime Reports (UCR): statistical report compiled by the FBI from law enforcement agencies across the country. Part I Offenses: Index offenses, most serious crimes in the UCR: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, larceny, burglary, auto theft, and arson. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Juvenile Arrest Rates For Property Crime: Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Primary Federal Agency responsible for addressing the issues of juvenile crime and delinquency and the problem of missing and exploited children. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Other Terminology Funnel Effect – the way in which the number of cases processed through the juvenile justice system decrease at each step. Aggregate data – data collected by agencies on how many total crimes they process. No individual level data are collected, only summary statistics. Dark figure of crime – the phrase used to describe the number of crimes committed but unreported. Victimless crimes – crimes in which the victim is a willing participant. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Data collection system implemented to collect individual-level data on offenders, victims, and crime from police departments. Designed to address many of the problems with the UCR. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) A national survey of households on the subject of victimization conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Demonstrates that crime is much higher than the UCR records. People are asked if they have been the victim of a crime in the last year. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Self-Report Studies Juveniles are asked if they have committed an offense within the last year. Self-report data has shown that juveniles commit many more offenses than those for which they are arrested. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Why Did Juvenile Crime Drop from mid 90s to 2004? Note: juvenile arrest rates for violent crime began to rise in The punitive juvenile justice system explanation. The society has changed its values explanation. The community policing/community justice explanation. The regression to the mean explanation. Increased capacity to deal with juvenile offenders, the incapacitation effect. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Juvenile Homicide and Victimization Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Juvenile Victimization in School Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Biological and Genetic Risk and Protective Factors Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Family Risk and Protective Factors Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Personality Risk and Protective Factors Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Social Environment Risk and Protective Factors Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Ecological Environment Risk and Protective Factors Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Educational Risk and Protective Factors Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.