Female Offenders in the Juvenile Justice System: Statistics Summary

• NCJ Number: 160941
• Author(s): E Poe-Yamagata; J A Butts
• Date Published: June 1996
• Length: 40 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

This analysis of patterns in the arrests, judicial management, and correctional placement of female juvenile offenders notes that females are entering the juvenile justice system more often and at younger ages than in past years.

Abstract

Although males account for most delinquency and are involved in more than three-fourths of juvenile arrests and juvenile court delinquency cases, the relative increase in juvenile arrests involving females was more than double the increase for males between 1989 and 1993. Juvenile arrests for violent crimes increased 33 percent for males and 55 percent for females during that period, and the ratio of male to female juvenile arrests declined from 8:1 in 1989 to 6:1 in 1993. Offenses against the person accounted for 24 percent of all female delinquency cases and 21 percent of all male delinquency cases in 1993. Both female and male caseloads included a higher proportion of offenses against the person in 1993 than in 1989. Female offenders were less likely than males to be ordered to an out-of-home placement following juvenile court adjudication and disposition. Tables, figures, and list of 10 related readings