In the United States the law views a minor or juvenile as a person under the legal adult age, which changes depending on which state you are in.  However the majority of the states in the U.S., and the Federal Districts, define the adult age of a person as 18 years of age.  Therefore most states, the District of Columbia, and all Federal Districts in the U.S. view any person whose age is 18 or younger as a juvenile in the eyes of the law.  Some states, such as New York, Connecticut, and North Carolina, view the juvenile age as 16 or younger.  In Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin, the age of a juvenile 17 or younger.  The only state in the U.S. that considers the age of juveniles to be 19 or younger is Wyoming.  

The most common way that juveniles are entered into the juvenile justice system is through law enforcement arrests.  These same law enforcement statistical figures are usually what is used as a representation when examining and studying juvenile crime rates and trends in the U.S.  Because law enforcement delivers the feedback and input for the remaining juvenile justice system, our knowledge and understanding of this feedback being provided by law enforcement is crucial for investigating and exploring how the system reacts to juvenile crimes.   

The Violent Crime Index takes the following types of crime into account when it’s being determined:  Murder, non-negligent manslaughter, robbery, forcible rape, and aggravated assault.

The number of violent crime arrests dramatically increased for juveniles in all the different racial groups between the 1980's and mid-1990's.  In 1994 this arrest rate peaked for both, black and white juveniles.  Again in 1995, this juvenile arrest rate peaked for American Indians, and then in 1996 for Asian juveniles.  After these peaks, the arrest rates for juveniles among all these different races began to decline after 2012. 

Just because the juvenile arrest rates increased for all different races beginning in the 1980's, does not mean that the arrest rate was the same or even close to the same for the different races.  In the 1980's, the violent crime index arrest rate for black youth was over 6 times the same white juvenile arrest rate.  In 2012 the violent crime index arrest rate for black juveniles was over 5 times the rate for white juveniles during the same period.  This black juvenile arrest rate was also 6 times American Indian juveniles, and 12 times the Asian juveniles arrest rate in 2012.

Rates are arrests of persons ages 10-17 per 100,000 persons ages 10-17 in the resident population. Persons of Hispanic ethnicity may be of any race, i.e., white, black, American Indian, or Asian. Arrests of Hispanics are not reported separately.

Here are two graph visualizations that provide visual aids to help better understand and grasp the arrest rate statistics over a period of time and the difference from one race to another. 

This first graph highlights the difference between white and black juvenile  violent crime arrest rates (arrests per 100,000 juveniles ages 10-17) from 1980 to 2012.  Also shows the black and white individual juvenile violent crime arrest rate increase and decrease from 1980 to 2012.   

 

This second graph provides a visual of the white juvenile violent crime arrest rate (arrests per 100,000 juveniles ages 10-17) spanning over the years from 1980 to 2012, compared to the same violent crime arrest rate for both the American Indian and Asian juveniles over the same period of time.

Graphs and statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs.                     

If you or someone you care for has been charged or accused of a crime, contact an experienced defense attorney for legal counsel and defense.  Also if you have a child that is a juvenile that has been charged or accused of a crime, like minor in possession, make sure you contact a defense attorney that specializes in handling juvenile defense cases for help.