Juvenile Victimization and Offending

Juvenile Offending

The specific terminology used in the twenty-first century to refer to youthful offenders did not exist until the twentieth century. Juvenile refers to a person under the age of eighteen. In the United States, this age definition varies from state to state. Delinquent is a term used to refer to a juvenile who engages in law-violating behavior. A distinction is made between status offenses—behaviors that are only illegal because of the age of the offender (e.g., truancy, runaway, curfew violations, underage drinking)—and criminal offenses—behaviors that are illegal regardless of the age of the person engaging in the behavior (e.g, rape, vandalism, prostitution). Both types of behaviors are instances of delinquency.

Over time, society increasingly has become concerned with juvenile behavior in general and even more so with law-violating acts. Official data reveal that juvenile arrests increased 11.0 percent from 1990 to 1999 for all types of crime. Arrests for persons eighteen years of age and older decreased by 2.9 percent, and arrests for persons of all ages decreased by 0.8 percent (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2000). Contributing significantly to the increase in juvenile arrests were females under the age of eighteen, with 31.8 percent. Males also contributed to the rise in juvenile arrests, with an increase of 4.7 percent (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2000).

It is evident through examination of arrest trends that youth involvement in crime has increased over time. Although broad trends are useful for showing juvenile participation in law-violating behavior, over time they do not provide an adequate understanding of the vulnerability of youth to crime in the United States. For that, the demographic variable of age, gender, and race must be examined.