Law - Juvenile Delinquents - Essay Example

In 2008, 180,100 juvenile arrests were made in relation to drug violations, which consisted of 15 percent of total juvenile arrests that year (Puzzanchera, 2009). These statistics further highlight that this is a seven percent reduction in drug-related arrests between 2007 and 2008. At the same time, drug violation arrests represented 11 percent of total juvenile arrests. The majority of drug-related arrests consisted of male violators compared to females. In 1994, drug violations with male offenders suddenly spiked, but have remained relatively steady since 2002 with only marginal declines year-on-year.

For female violators, drug abuse arrests have also remained essentially steady since 1997, after a sudden spike in arrests around 1993, with marginal decreases year-by-year. In 2008, the states of Illinois, Maryland, and Wyoming maintained the highest arrest rates in the country (Puzzanchera, 2009). In relation to assault arrests, the volume of juvenile arrest for simple assaults recognized no increase or decrease from 2007 (Puzzanchera, 2009). . For males, per 100,000 arrests, simple assault arrests were approximately totaled approximately 900.

Despite male declines from 1999, 2008’s arrest records illustrate that simple assaults are dominated by male juvenile offenders. In relation to total 2008 arrests, males more than females were the most prominent offenders in all categories of violations, with 70 percent male and 30 percent female. Robbery and murder were dominated by blacks in relation to arrests made for whites and other ethnic groups for these violations. The Violent Crime Index indicates that blacks juvenile arrests were 500 percent of white juvenile arrests from 2004-2008.

This has significant implications for the black ethnic group as the entire juvenile population in America in 2008 consisted of 78 percent white and only 16 percent black. Asian/Pacific Islanders made up only five percent of the juvenile population in 2008, while American Indians represented only a marginal one percent of the population. With these extreme ratios of approximately 5:1 for violent crime arrests between blacks and whites respectively, this indicates a potential justice abiding problem or social problem with the black population that only makes up 16 percent of the total 2008 juvenile population.

Female robbery arrest rates increased 51 percent from 2002 to 2008. At the same time, the female aggravated assault arrest rates increased 80 percent from 1980 to 2008, though this was a 17 percent drop from 1999 to 2008. Larceny-theft, considered a violent crime by the Department of Justice, showed marked increases in female juvenile offenders of four percent, while male juvenile counterparts showed a large 29 percent decrease between 1999 and 2008.