Juvenile offenders: Race and Ethnicity

Running head: JUVENILE OFFENDERS: RACE AND ETHNICITY

Juvenile Offenders: Race and Ethnicity

University of Phoenix

Juvenile Offenders: Race and Ethnicity

"Researchers have long observed differences in rates of serious juvenile and adult offending among ethnic and racial groups in the United States. These differences have prompted competing theoretical interpretations and public policy debates. However, conclusions about the racial differences in serious and violent juvenile offending have been reached primarily using individual-level data that, when used alone, yield incomplete results. Multilevel analyses that consider community and contextual factors have the potential to produce a fuller understanding of the meaning of these differences (, 2002)."

This paper will first describe the racial distribution of serious and violent offending among juveniles in the United States. It will provide a picture of the short-term national trends for offending patterns by race and ethnicity and summarize research findings on racial and ethnic differences in chronic juvenile offending. Various explanations are given for the racial and ethnic differences. This paper will include recommendations for improving understandings of these differences and implications for guiding prevention and intervention efforts.

Data from the 1998 UCR indicates that differential rates of arrest for crime are related to race (Snyder, 1999). Arrests of white juveniles (under age 18) constituted 71 percent of all juvenile arrests compared with 26 percent for black youth. American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian or Pacific Islanders account for 1 and 2 percent, respectively (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1999). Black youth were overrepresented, given the fact that they make up 15 percent of the juvenile population compared with 79 percent white and 5 percent other races. The distribution by index crime type varies, however. Black youth accounted for 42 percent of arrests for violent crime compared with 55 percent for white youth (3 percent were youth of other races). Black youth, when compared with white youth, were most overrepresented in arrests for robbery (54 percent and 43 percent, respectively) and murder and non-negligent manslaughter (49 percent and 47 percent, respectively). Black youth were least disproportionately involved in arson arrests (18 percent and 80 percent, respectively) (Snyder, 1999; Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1999).

Juvenile involvement in crime by race has been generally consistent over the past several decades (LaFree, 1995). However, the racial gap in rates of homicide widened dramatically