Official data

	crimes reported to the police
	the FBI's UCR

Self-report data

	anonymous surveys of adolescents
	"secret or hidden delinquents"

Victim data

	victim surveys
	National Crime Victimization Survey

FBI and the UCR

	crimes known to the police
	arrests made
	persons arrested

Part I or index crimes

	homicide and non-negligent manslaughter
	forcible rape
	robbery
	aggravated assault
	burglary
	larceny
	arson
	motor vehicle theft

UCR expresses data in three ways

	the number of crimes reported to the police given as raw figures
	percent changes between years computed
	crime rates per 100,000 population reported

	Congress passed in 1990
	Crimes motivated by religious, ethnic, racial, or sexual-orientation bias will be counted differently than they have been in the past

	Describes the number and characteristics of delinquency and status offense cases disposed of by the juvenile court
	Provides a snapshot of juvenile court activity in a given year

	information on serious crimes, like many white-collar or corporate crimes not included
	reflects police biases and behavior, not crime
	reflect citizen willingness to call the police
	data collected involuntarily
	variations in reported data may not mean that criminal behavior has changed

	National Incident-Based Recording System
	Collects more information about each criminal act than the UCR date, time,and location of crime offender characteristics of age, sex, race, ethnicity offense characteristics of alcohol, drugs, weapon or force

	Hidden delinquency
	NORC (National Opinion Research Center)
	NCVS (National Crime Victimization Survey) by U. S. Bureau of Justice Statistics

	http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm
	1989, included more questions about sexual victimizations

	Subjects asked report the number of times they engaged in a given act during a particular period
	Uncover information on hidden delinquency
	Supplement police, court, and victimization data

	samples may not accurately represent the number of delinquents
	disagreement on the offense categories included
	memory and distortion problems

Prevalence of delinquency

number of juveniles involved

Incidence

how many delinquent acts are committed

	In 1997, 26% of the U.S. population was 17 years old or younger and 18 percent of all persons arrested were in this age group.
	Since 1993, the number of violent crimes reported to police has declined by 15 percent.

Measuring official delinquency

	disaggregated arrest statistics
	total number of arrests does not equal number of people who have been arrested

Measuring is difficult

no one measurement system contains data on offenses, offenders, and victims.

	males more delinquent than females
	girls more likely to be arrested for running away
	Ruben Gur, explains that the brains of females and males are different in regulating emotional processing.
	Since 1960, the gender ratio for Index offenses has steadily declined (14:1 to 5:1).

	In 1997, 80 percent of the juvenile population was white.
	Racial minorities disproportionately represented in arrest statistics
	Arson has closest ratio of arrests for African-American and white.

	African-American juveniles account for a disproportionate amount of all juvenile arrests for serious crimes.
	White juveniles are arrested more often than are African-American Youth.
	Self-reports indicate that African-American and white juveniles commit similar amounts of delinquency.

Are the data valid?

	Arrest differences may be due to racial bias in criminal justice system.
	Prior record increases chance of formal sanctions
	Other researchers find arrest rates to be a product of offending rates
	Ecological differences explain minority arrest rates
	"African-American male juveniles less likely to admit involvement in serious crimes for which they have been arrested."

Social class and delinquency

	Official data finds persistent relationship, particularly for serious offenses
	Elliott and Ageton lower-class youth are more likely to commit serious offenses
	Tittle the relationship depends on when and how the research was conducted (1940s)

	find insignificant relationships between class and delinquency
	self-reports criticized for including measures of trivial offenses and status offenses
	recent studies find lower-class youths more frequently commit serious crimes
	the definition of social class often influences the results of the studies

	aging out, desistance or spontaneous remission
	explain why people stop not start committing crimes
	age of onset may be a predictive variable
	use of longitudinal studies

	changing lifestyles may reduce criminality
	social commitments, personality changes, increased self-control, and increased fear of punishment
	as testosterone levels decrease, so does male aggressiveness

	Small numbers of youths have earlier onset and persistence in criminal behavior
	Known as high rate persisters or chronic offenders

	research on the life cycle of delinquent careers
	early onset of delinquency as a harbinger of a criminal career
	social factors related to persistent offending
	physical and mental factors determine behavior

Wolfgang, Figlio and Sellin

	9,945 boys born in Philadelphia in 1945
	one-third of boys had police contact
	one-half more than one police contact
	race most significant predictor of police contact
	school-related variables associated with delinquency

Chronic offenders 6% of total sample five or more police contacts arrested earlier ages serious violent crimes 51.9% of all reported offenses more than 60% of all robberies, forcible rapes, aggravated assaults, and homicides seriousness of original offense and severity of disposition related to recidivism

	10% of original sample followed until age 30
	chronic offenders persisted into adulthood and engaged in the most serious crimes
	desistance was common in the entire sample
	crime seriousness escalated in adulthood

	27,160 boys and girls born in Philadelphia in 1958
	proportion of delinquents increased
	overall offending patterns remained similar
	racial differences less significant
	white chronics increased, minority chronics decreased

	violent crime ratio declined
	males were two and half more likely to be delinquent than females
	7% of delinquent females were chronics
	7.5% of males were chronics

	roughly two percent of juveniles arrested were chronic offenders
	juveniles with five or more arrests accounted for two-thirds of al reported delinquencies
	few violent juvenile offenders are repeat violent offenders

	crucial points are marriage and career
	build social relationships known as social capital
	social capital reduces the likelihood of deviance

	small number of youth commit majority of serious juvenile crime
	boys are more involved in delinquency
	delinquency decreases with age
	lower-class minority males commit the majority of serious violent offenses
	official intervention increases likelihood of future criminality