Characteristics of Crimes Against Juveniles
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U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention John J. Wilson, Acting Administrator June 2000 Characteristics From the Administrator The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting of Crimes Against (UCR) system and the Bureau of Jus- tice Statistics’ National Crime Victim- Juveniles ization Survey do not collect informa- tion about crimes committed against persons under 12 years of age and thus do not provide a comprehensive David Finkelhor and Richard Ormrod picture of juvenile crime victimization. Designed to replace UCR as the na- The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is committed to tional database for crimes reported to improving the justice system’s response to crimes against children. OJJDP recognizes law enforcement, the FBI’s National that children are at increased risk for crime victimization. Not only are children the vic- Incident-Based Reporting System tims of many of the same crimes that victimize adults, they are subject to other crimes, (NIBRS) includes detailed data about juvenile victims. like child abuse and neglect, that are specific to childhood. The impact of these crimes on young victims can be devastating, and the violent or sexual victimization of children This Bulletin reviews data from the 1997 NIBRS data file that pertain to can often lead to an intergenerational cycle of violence and abuse. The purpose of juvenile victims, revealing that while OJJDP’s Crimes Against Children Series is to improve and expand the Nation’s efforts juveniles made up 26 percent in the to better serve child victims by presenting the latest information about child victimization, population of the 12 States participating including analyses of crime victimization statistics, studies of child victims and their spe- in NIBRS in 1997, they accounted for only 12 percent of the reported crime cial needs, and descriptions of programs and approaches that address these needs. victims. At the same time, however, 71 percent of all sex crime victims and 38 percent of all kidnaping victims reported Until recently, it has been difficult to ob- crimes that are committed against juve- to NIBRS were juveniles. tain a national statistical picture of juve- niles (youth ages 17 and younger) has nile crime victimization. The Uniform been unavailable. Although the data collected from the Crime Reporting (UCR) system, which has States participating in NIBRS in 1997 served as the Nation’s primary source of The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s were not necessarily representative of (FBI’s) developing National Incident- information about crime since 1929, has the Nation as a whole, they represent never collected information or reported Based Reporting System (NIBRS), how- a considerable number of reported ever, does provide detailed statistical crimes by age of victim, with the excep- crimes and thus constitute an invalu- tion of homicides. The National Crime information about juvenile victims of re- able resource for crime analysis. As ported crimes. As more jurisdictions be- Victimization Survey (NCVS), the victim the Bulletin’s authors conclude, NIBRS self-report survey conducted by the U.S. gin to participate in NIBRS, the outlines should prove a crucial tool in years to of a national picture of juvenile crime Department of Commerce, Bureau of the come for researchers and practitioners Census on behalf of the U.S. Department victims are beginning to emerge. Even seeking to improve public policies though NIBRS is far from a comprehen- of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics for regarding juvenile crime victims. the past 20 years, has collected data only sive national data system, the fact that only partial data were available previ- John J. Wilson on crimes occurring to persons 12 years Acting Administrator of age or older. Consequently, even such a ously makes it particularly useful to see what information about juvenile victims basic fact as the percentage of all violent can be gleaned from this system. An analysis of 1997 NIBRS data from ju- risdictions in 12 States reveals some key Figure 1: Juvenile versus Adult Victimization, by Type of Crime and findings: Victim’s Age Group ◆ Juveniles make up 12 percent of All Crimes all crime victims known to police, in- cluding 71 percent of all sex crime vic- Sex Offenses* tims and 38 percent of all kidnaping Kidnaping victims (figure 1). Aggravated Assault ◆ Simple assault is the most commonly Simple Assault reported crime against juveniles, con- Robbery stituting 41 percent of all juvenile vic- timizations reported to police (figure Homicide 2). Sexual offenses make up 12 percent, Larceny aggravated assaults 11 percent, and Vandalism kidnapings 1 percent of all the crimes against juveniles reported to police. Motor Vehicle Theft 0 2030 40 50 60 70 8090 100 ◆ Girls predominate as victims of sex 10 offenses and kidnaping, but boys pre- Percentage of All Victims for Each Type of Crime dominate as victims of all other crimes. ◆ Children under age 12 make up ap- Juvenile Adult proximately one-quarter of all juvenile victims known to police and at least * Sex offenses against juveniles include forcible (64 percent) and nonforcible (7 percent) one-half of the juvenile victims offenses. of kidnaping and forcible sex offenses. Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (1997), National Incident-Based Reporting System ◆ (NIBRS), (12 States only), Computer file, Tabulations undertaken by Crimes against Children Adult offenders are responsible for 55 Research Center, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. percent of juvenile victimizations, most disproportionately for kidnaping, sex offenses, and the victimizations of chil- dren younger than 6 and older than 15. Figure 2: Juvenile Victimization, by Type of Crime ◆ Family perpetrators make up 20 per- cent of the offenders against children, Simple Assault but they make up a majority of offend- Larceny ers against children under age 4 and Sex Offenses* are disproportionately represented among kidnapers and sex offenders. Aggravated Assault Vandalism NIBRS Data on Robbery Juvenile Victims Kidnaping NIBRS is designed to become the national Motor Vehicle Theft statistical database on crimes coming to Homicide the attention of law enforcement agencies. All Others It collects more detailed information about individual crimes, victims, perpetrators, 0 1020304050 and crime characteristics than is available Percentage of All Crimes Against Juveniles from the Uniform Crime Reporting pro- gram, the system it is intended to replace. * Sex offenses against juveniles include forcible (11 percent) and nonforcible (1 percent) Because NIBRS data include the age of offenses. juvenile victims (to the nearest year in Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (1997), National Incident-Based Reporting System most cases), victim age is one of the im- (NIBRS), (12 States only), Computer file, Tabulations undertaken by Crimes against Children portant new variables that NIBRS makes Research Center, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. available for the profiling of crime. NIBRS also provides detailed information on other victim characteristics, crime type, For example, assault can involve aggra- vidual victims, including theft and vandal- and victimization circumstances. Data vated assault, simple assault, or intimida- ism, and nonforcible sex offenses such as are collected on numerous categories of tion, while sexual assault encompasses statutory rape and nonforcible incest. Al- crime, including homicide, assault, kid- forcible rape, forcible sodomy, sexual as- though homicide is the most serious vio- naping, robbery, and sexual assault, and sault with an object, and forcible fondling. lent crime and NIBRS collects data about on specific offenses within each category. NIBRS also collects information on non- homicide, it is not analyzed here. Other violent crimes that can be linked to indi- more complete and detailed national data 2 sets on this crime are available and have known to police. After that, in decreasing crimes against juveniles receive a lion’s been analyzed elsewhere (Finkelhor, 1997; order of magnitude, are larceny, sex of- share of public attention, they constitute Finkelhor and Ormrod, in press). fenses, aggravated assault, vandalism, a minority of the offenses against juve- robbery, kidnaping, motor vehicle theft, niles that are reported. In addition to information about the vic- and homicide. There is a set of additional tim and type of offense, NIBRS reports a Gender disparities among juvenile property crimes, such as burglary, arson, wealth of details about the circumstances and fraud, with a small number of juvenile crime victims parallel gender differ- of an incident. Among other particulars, ences for crime victims in general (fig- victims recorded in NIBRS. These crimes incident time and location are recorded, are categorized as “all others” in figure 2, ure 3). Girls outnumber boys as victims facts about perpetrators are listed, use of sex offenses (82 percent and 18 per- but, along with homicide, are not dis- of weapons and weapon types are noted, cussed individually in this Bulletin. cent, respectively) and kidnaping (63 and stolen property is cataloged. Thus, percent and 37 percent, respectively), NIBRS provides information for a fuller Although sexual assault is the crime with while boys outnumber girls as victims description of juvenile victimizations the highest percentage of juvenile vic- of robbery