Major findings from the study include: 50 percent of all juvenile crime incidents occurred at less than 1 percent of street segments, while all juvenile crime incidents occurred at less than 5 percent of street segments; crime rates often varied from one street segment to the next, indicating that targeted police efforts could reduce crime in these areas; and juvenile crime was concentrated in public and commercial areas where youth gather, such as schools, youth centers, shops, malls, and restaurants, as opposed to residential areas, indicating that closer supervision of these public places may help decrease juvenile crime rates in those areas. This bulletin from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides the results of a study that examined the concentration of officially recorded juvenile crime at street segments in Seattle, WA. The study covered the period 1989 through 2002, and measured the number of juvenile crime incidents in which at least one juvenile aged 8 to 17 was arrested. The objectives of the study were to examine: 1) whether juvenile crime was concentrated in crime hot spots; 2) the extent to which developmental trends in juvenile crime were stable or variable over time; where juvenile crime hot spots were located in the city, and whether they were clustered in specific areas; and what risk factors were related to the concentration of juvenile crime in specific places. The findings indicate that juvenile crime in Seattle occurs in a small number of hot spots located primarily in juvenile activity spaces such as schools, youth centers, shops, malls, and restaurants, and that police activities should be targeted directly at these hot spots to reduce the rate of juvenile crime. Limitations of the study are discussed. Tables, figures, endnotes, and references
Hot Spots of Juvenile Crime: Findings From Seattle
NCJ Number
231575
Date Published
October 2011
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This bulletin from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention presents the results of a study that examined the distribution of juvenile crime in Seattle, WA.
Abstract
Date Published: October 1, 2011