U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

J. Robert Flores, Administrator September 2003 #07

detention for juveniles charged with person offenses was 8 times

greater for whites than blacks (57% versus 7%), and the increase

for drug offenses was 6 times greater for whites than blacks (124%

versus 21%).

In spite of this trend, black juveniles were more likely to be detained than white juveniles during every year between 1990 and

1999. This was true for all offense categories.

Detention in Delinquency Cases,

1990–1999

by Paul Harms

Detention caseloads increased 11% between 1990

and 1999

The increase in the delinquency caseload that juvenile courts handle drives the growth in the number of juveniles in the detention

system. In 1990, juvenile courts handled 1.3 million delinquency

cases. By 1999, this number had risen 27%, to nearly 1.7 million.

The growth in the volume of cases entering the juvenile justice

system resulted in an 11% increase in the number of delinquency

cases involving detention at some point between referral and case

disposition. In 1999, 33,400 more delinquency cases were detained

than in 1990. As a result, the demand for juvenile detention bedspace has increased nationwide.

The most dramatic change in the detention

population was the influx of female juveniles

charged with person offenses

In general, the proportion of delinquency cases ordered to detention

remained relatively steady between 1990 and 1999. Juveniles were

detained in 23% of the cases processed in 1990, compared with 20%

of the cases processed in 1999. However, the profile of the national detention population shifted during this period, with a greater

proportion of youth charged with person and drug offenses and a

greater proportion of females in the detention population by 1999.

During the 1990–99 period, there was a surge in the number of

female delinquency cases entering detention (a 50% increase,

compared with 4% for males). The large increase was tied to the

growth in the number of delinquency cases involving females

charged with person offenses (102%).

Detention caseloads increased more for white

juveniles than black juveniles

Between 1990 and 1999, the number of cases involving detention

increased more for white juveniles (17%, from 173,900 to 203,500)

than for black juveniles (3%, from 116,200 to 119,900), in part

because the use of detention in cases involving person and drug

offenses increased more for whites than blacks.1 The increase in

Delinquency cases involving detention, 1990–1999

Change

in number

of cases

involving

All Detained detention,

Case type 1990 1995 1999 cases cases 1990–99

Total 23% 17% 20% 27% 11% 33,400

Person 27 22 23 55 32 21,700

Property 19 13 16 –9 –22 –31,800

Drugs 38 21 23 169 62 16,600

Public order 27 19 23 74 44 26,800

Male 24% 18% 21% 19% 4% 11,600

Person 29 23 25 42 20 11,600

Property 20 15 18 –14 –25 –32,300

Drugs 39 22 23 161 55 13,400

Public order 28 20 23 62 38 18,900

Female 18% 12% 16% 59% 50% 21,800

Person 20 17 19 107 102 10,100

Property 14 8 12 15 3 500

Drugs 28 16 20 219 121 3,300

Public order 26 15 20 122 69 7,900

White 20% 14% 18% 30% 17% 29,600

Person 24 19 21 72 57 18,800

Property 17 12 15 –9 –19 –17,900

Drugs 27 14 17 252 124 12,700

Public order 26 17 20 78 41 16,000

Black 29% 22% 25% 20% 3% 3,600

Person 31 25 25 32 7 2,200

Property 24 17 20 –8 –25 –12,100

Drugs 52 34 38 64 21 3,400

Public order 31 20 28 68 50 10,100

Percent change figures are based on unrounded numbers.

Percent of all cases

involving detention

Percent change 

in number 

of cases,

1990–99

1 Juveniles of Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race, but most are included in the

white racial category.
With the exception of drug offense cases, the use of

detention remained relatively constant

Beginning in the late 1980s, the war on drugs coincided with a

high rate of detention for drug offense cases. Since that time, however, the proportion of drug offense cases involving detention has

declined. For example, the number of drug offense cases handled

by juvenile courts increased 169% between 1990 and 1999, while

the proportion of drug offense cases involving detention declined

15 percentage points (from 38% to 23%) during this period. The

steady growth in the number of offenders and the limited number

of available detention beds are factors that likely influenced decisions made by the courts regarding the use of detention.

For most age groups, the use of detention decreased

slightly between 1990 and 1999

The number of cases handled by juvenile courts increased for all

juveniles ages 12 through 17 between 1990 and 1999. Although the

number of cases ordered to detention during this period increased

slightly for these juveniles, the proportion of cases involving detention decreased for all ages except 17-year-olds. Delinquency

cases involving juveniles under age 12 decreased slightly between

1990 and 1999 (1%), while the number of cases involving detention decreased substantially (22%).

For further information

This Fact Sheet is based on the forthcoming Report Juvenile

Court Statistics 1999, which will be available on the Office

of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s)

Web site (www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ojjdp). To learn more about

juvenile court cases, visit OJJDP’s Statistical Briefing Book

(ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/index.html) and click on “Juveniles

in Court.” OJJDP also supports Easy Access to Juvenile Court

Statistics, a Web-based application that analyzes the data files

used for the Juvenile Court Statistics Report. This application

is available from the Statistical Briefing Book.

Paul Harms, Ph.D., is a Research Associate with the National Juvenile

Court Data Archive, which is supported by an OJJDP grant.

Profile of detainees by age

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

<12 12 13 14 15 16 17

Percent of cases detained

1990 1995 1999

Age at referral

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component

of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice

Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice,

and the Office for Victims of Crime.

Fact Sheet FS–200307

The proportion of cases involving detention decreased

more for black juveniles than white juveniles between

1990 and 1999

10

0

15

5

20

25

30

Percent of cases detained

Black

White

1990 1999 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998