Juvenile Offenders

Putting Youth Violence in Perspective

In November 1993, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno characterized youth violence as the greatest crime problem facing the United States. Her assessment was based on an examination of all arrests reported to the FBI by police agencies across the United States for violent crimes since the mid-1980s. The former prosecutor's depiction shocked many, because arrest data had indicated that violent crime in the United States had been declining for several years. Reno wanted the American public to know that juvenile involvement in violent crime was increasing at an unprecedented pace during a time when the violent crime rate among adults had been decreasing.

The number of arrests of minors for violent crimes in the United States continued to soar through 1994, a year when juveniles accounted for close to 20% of the 645,000 people arrested for violent crime for whom age was known. During the next 6 years, the number of juveniles arrested for one of the violent crimes decreased each year. Many were quick to suggest that [Page 262]the tide of youth violence had subsided, after noting that the percentage of violent crime arrestees who were juveniles had decreased continuously from 19.4% in 1994 to 15.9% in 2000. Examination of juvenile arrest data over a generation, however, clearly reveals that violent crime by those under 18 years of age remains a very serious problem in the United States. Over the 30-year period from 1967 to 1996, juvenile involvement in violent crime increased substantially. The increase is particularly apparent when juvenile arrests for violent crime are compared over the 30-year period in rates, which control for any changes in the population over the time frame.

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