Transcript Slide 1

CASE OF THE DAY
• “Confinement for 2 Athletes in Sex Abuse of
Teammates”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/15/nyregion/15haze
.html
• “Hazers off easy” http://www.nydailynews.com/0115-2004/news/story/155111p-136355c.html
– Turning a deaf ear to victims' pleas, a judge sentenced two
football players from Long Island's Mepham High School to at
least four months in juvenile facilities for sexually torturing
younger teammates.
FACTS ABOUT JUVENILE
CRIME: TRENDS AND
PATTERNS
Measuring Juvenile Crime
• What are the most useful sources of
information about juvenile crime?
– Crimes reported to the police?
– Arrests of juveniles?
– Court statistics?
– Victim surveys?
– Self-reports of delinquent behavior
– Number of persons injured by juveniles?
– The newspapers?
• What are the most useful indicia of juvenile
crime?
– All crimes? Violent crimes? Homicides?
– Crimes committed in groups?
– Share of all crime committed by juveniles?
– Is time important?
– Prevalence versus incidence? (number of
repeat offenders versus total number of
offender versus total number of crimes
committed by juveniles?
• Collateral Dimensions of Juvenile Crime
– Drinking and drug use
– Truancy
– School offenses
– Carrying guns and other weapons
• Indicia of Adolescence
– Crimes committed in groups (significance?)
• Gang crimes
• The Berkeley case, Central Park Jogger case
AGE-SPECIFIC ARREST RATES
FOR ALL CRIMES, 1970-99
20,000.0
18,000.0
14,000.0
12,000.0
14 & under
15 - 17
18 - -20
21 - 24
25 & older
10,000.0
8,000.0
6,000.0
4,000.0
2,000.0
Year
98
99
19
96
97
19
19
95
19
93
94
19
19
91
92
19
19
89
90
19
19
88
19
86
87
19
19
84
85
19
19
82
83
19
19
81
19
79
80
19
19
77
78
19
19
75
76
19
19
74
19
72
73
19
19
71
19
19
70
0.0
19
Rate per 100,000 Population
16,000.0
AGE-SPECIFIC ARREST RATES
FOR INDEX CRIMES, 1970-99
20,000.0
18,000.0
16,000.0
Rate per 100,000
14,000.0
14 & under
15 - 17
18 - 20
21 - 24
25 & over
12,000.0
10,000.0
8,000.0
6,000.0
4,000.0
2,000.0
0.0
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
Year
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
AGE-SPECIFIC ARREST RATES
FOR VIOLENT INDEX FELONY CRIMES, 1970-99
20,000.0
18,000.0
16,000.0
12,000.0
14 & under
15 - 17
18 - 20
21 - 24
25 & over
10,000.0
8,000.0
6,000.0
4,000.0
2,000.0
98
97
96
99
19
19
19
94
93
92
91
95
19
19
19
19
19
89
88
87
90
19
19
19
19
86
Year
19
84
83
85
19
19
19
81
80
79
82
19
19
19
19
77
76
75
74
78
19
19
19
19
19
72
71
73
19
19
19
19
70
0.0
19
Rate per 100,000
14,000.0
How Reliable are These Data?
• What is the correlation between arrest and selfreports?
• Vary by age? Type of crime? Gender? Race?
Social Dimensions
of Youth Crime
• Cross-age victimization is rare, generally goes
upward
• Intra-race
• Age peaks vary by type of crime – much
earlier for property crimes, much later for
violent crimes, especially for homicide
Temporal Trends
• In THE GREAT VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC
(1985-96), most of the increase and decline
was among:
– Adolescents 13-17
– Non-white victims
– Gun homicides (for all age groups)
– Arrests, not necessarily victimization
– Urban areas
– Drug Arrests
LEGISLATIVE RESPONSE
• Newspapers claim that there is a juvenile
crime wave….SUPERPREDATORS!!
• Legislators claim that new crime wave calls
for tougher laws
• What evidence do you marshal? What facts
do you develop to counteract the
sensationalism that invariably accompanies
such claims?