Table of Contents Title Page Juvenile Justice Policy and
Problems, Policies, and Program Performance in the States NEBRASKA-Portraying Juvenile Crime over Time MASSACHUSETTS- Evaluating Cops and Kids NEW MEXICO-Mixing Juveniles with Adults |
Juvenile Justice Problems, Policies, and Program Performance in the States Overview of Problem In the 1980s and 1990s, rates of violent and property offenses by juveniles rose to historic peaks, from which they have recently declined somewhat. Despite this recent decline, concern about juvenile crime, particularly crime within younger juvenile cohorts, remains high among state criminal justice agencies throughout the nation. As the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) reported in late 1998, the 1996 violent crime arrest rate was still 60% higher than the 1980 rate for youth under 15 and 41% higher for youth15 and older. OJJDP also found that property crime rates for youth under 15 in 1996 returned to 1980 levels, while rates for those 15 and older declined from their 1991 peaks only slightly. Similarly, case processing for youth under 15 increased 57% between 1986 and 1995, but only 39% for youth 15 and older. Thus, the most recent available data indicate that juvenile crime remains at historically high levels, especially among younger juveniles whose delinquent activities will fall under the purview of the juvenile justice system for many years to come. State policymakers and practitioners in the juvenile justice system are well aware of the current situation and its potential. These actors have responded with innovative and energetic programs to improve their information about juvenile crime and to use it to deal effectively with the problems before they radiate into the adult system. The following report outlines efforts of six states-Arizona, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and New Mexico-to develop data to inform their criminal justice policymakers about general and specific aspects of juvenile justice policy and program performance. Each state is examined in terms of its basic juvenile justice problem(s) and the data and information that it has developed to guide formulation and evaluation of its efforts to deal with the problem(s). In some cases the data and information are used solely to build more accurate portraits of the overall problem situation. In others, they are used to create more effective monitoring systems for particular programs and their implementation. In still others, they are used for evaluation and assessment of particular juvenile justice programs in the state. In all the states, the data developed are fundamentally designed to improve the policymaking capacity of criminal justice decisionmakers in that state.
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