This report profiles the nearly 1.7 million delinquency cases processed by courts nationwide with juvenile jurisdiction in 1999 and reviews judicial trends since 1990.
Data used in this report are stored in the National Juvenile Court Data Archive, which contains the most detailed information available on juveniles involved in the juvenile justice system and on the activities of U.S. juvenile courts. Two chapters present national estimates of delinquency cases processed by the juvenile courts in 1999 and also analyze caseload trends from 1990. One of the two chapters provides data on the volume and rate of delinquency cases, sources of referral, demographic characteristics of the juveniles involved (age, gender, and race), and the types of offenses charged. The second of the two chapters traces the flow of delinquency cases through the courts as it examines each decision point (detention, intake decision, judicial decisions, and judicial disposition) and presents data by demographic characteristics and type of offense. Combined, these two chapters provide a detailed national portrait of delinquency cases handled by courts with juvenile jurisdiction. The remaining chapter presents a sample-based profile of status offense cases formally processed by the juvenile courts between 1990 and 1999. It contains data on demographic characteristics, type of offenses charged, and case processing. One appendix describes the statistical procedure used to generate the estimates, and another appendix defines key terms used in the report. The final appendix presents a detailed table that shows the number of delinquency, status offense, and dependency cases processed by juvenile courts in 1999 by State and county. Extensive tables and figures and an index of tables and figures