U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Jeff Slowikowski, Acting Administrator December 2011

Person Offense Cases in
 

Juvenile Court, 2008
 by Sarah Hockenberry

Counts, rates, and trends 

U.S. juvenile courts handled an estimated 403,300 delinquency 

cases in 2008 in which the most serious charge was an offense 

against a person. (Person offenses include assault, robbery, rape, 

homicide, and other crimes involving force or threat of force 

against persons.) The 2008 person offense caseload was 119% 

greater than in 1985. In 2008, person offenses accounted for 24% 

of the delinquency caseload, compared with 16% in 1985. 

Person offense cases handled by juvenile courts, 

1985–2008 

Most severe 

disposition 1985 2008 

Percent change 

1985–2008 

Cases 

Total person offenses* 183,700 403,300 119% 

Violent Crime Index 64,400 86,500 34

 Criminal homicide 1,200 1,400 16

 Forcible rape 3,300 4,400 33

 Robbery 25,600 32,800 28

 Aggravated assault 34,400 48,000 40 

Simple assault 100,300 270,200 169 

Case rate** 

Total person offenses* 7.0 13.1 87% 

Violent Crime Index 2.4 2.8 15

 Criminal homicide 0.0 0.0 –1

 Forcible rape 0.1 0.1 14

 Robbery 1.0 1.0 9

 Aggravated assault 1.3 1.6 19 

Simple assault 3.8 8.8 130 

* Total includes other person offense categories not listed. 

** Cases per 1,000 youth age 10 through the upper age of juvenile 

court jurisdiction. 

Note: Percent change is calculated using unrounded numbers. 

In 2008, juvenile courts handled 13.1 person offense cases for 

every 1,000 juveniles age 10 through the upper age of original 

juvenile court jurisdiction. The 2008 person offense case rate was 

87% greater than the 1985 rate but 8% less than the 1997 peak 

rate. 

Homicide was the most serious charge in 1,400 cases handled 

in 2008. This amounted to less than 0.4% of all person offense 

cases that juvenile courts handled in 2008. The majority of person offense cases involved charges of simple assault (270,200) 

or aggravated assault (48,000). Together, these two offenses 

accounted for 79% of all person offense cases processed in 2008. 

Characteristics of offenders 

More than half (56%) of person offense cases in 2008 involved 

white youth, 41% involved black youth, 1% involved American 

Indian youth (includes Alaskan Native), and 1% involved Asian 

youth (includes Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander). 

Between 1985 and 2008, person offense case rates for black juveniles were substantially greater than those for the other racial 

groups; however, the case rate increased most for white youth 

(88%), followed by black youth (80%), Asian youth (53%), and 

American Indian youth (37%). Person offense case rates peaked 

for all racial groups during the 1990s and declined through the 

The person offense case rate for black youth increased 

annually between 2000 and 2008 

86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 

0 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

Cases per 1,000 juveniles ages 10–upper age 

Black 

American Indian 

White 

Asian 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention ojjdp.gov
early 2000s. Although case rates were generally flat between 

2000 and 2008 for white, American Indian, and Asian youth, case 

rates for black youth increased 17%, almost reaching the 1995 

peak rate. 

Compared with 1985, juveniles involved in person offense cases 

in 2008 were about the same age but more likely to be female. In 

2008, 60% of person offenses involved juveniles younger than 

16, compared with 62% in 1985. Between 1985 and 2008, the 

relative increase in the female caseload outpaced that of males 

for person offenses (228% vs. 93%). As a result, the female share 

of the person offense caseload has grown since 1985. For example, females accounted for about 21% of person offenses for each 

year between 1985 and 1991. Between 1991 and 2008, the 

female proportion of the person offense caseload steadily 

increased and was 29% in 2008. 

Compared with males, the 2008 female delinquency caseload had 

a greater proportion of simple assault cases (21% vs. 15%) and 

an equal proportion of aggravated assault cases (3%). Even 

though assault cases increased both for males and females 

between 1985 and 2008, the growth in female assault cases 

exceeded the growth in male assault cases (226% vs. 108%). 

Demographic and case processing characteristics of 

person offense cases 

Characteristics 1985 1999 2008 

Gender 

Male 80% 72% 71% 

Female 20 28 29 

Age at referral 

15 or younger 62% 65% 60% 

16 or older 38 35 40 

Race/ethnicity 

White 59% 63% 56% 

Black 39 35 41 

American Indian 1 1 1 

Asian 1 1 1 

Predisposition detention 

Detained 25% 25% 27% 

Not detained 75 75 73 

Intake decision 

Petitioned 55% 61% 59% 

Not petitioned 45 39 41 

Judicial decision of petitioned cases 

Adjudicated delinquent 55% 56% 58% 

Not adjudicated delinquent 43 42 40 

Waived to criminal court 2 2 2 

Most severe disposition of adjudicated cases 

Placed 35% 30% 31% 

Probation 58 60 59 

Other 7 10 10 

Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. 

Case processing 

Of the 403,300 person offense cases that juvenile courts disposed 

in 2008, 58% (238,100) were handled formally (i.e., a petition 

was filed requesting an adjudicatory or transfer hearing). Of these 

petitioned cases, 58% (139,300) resulted in the youth being adjudicated delinquent in the juvenile justice system, 40% (94,400) 

resulted in the youth being adjudicated not delinquent, and 2% 

(4,400) were judicially waived to criminal court. 

The proportion of petitioned person offense cases judicially 

waived to criminal court peaked in 1994, when 2.7% (5,800) of 

such cases were waived. Since 1994, the likelihood of waiver has 

declined. By 2008, 1.9% (4,400) of the petitioned person offense 

caseload was waived. Although the likelihood of waiver has 

declined, person offense cases were more likely to be waived 

than cases involving other offenses in 2008. Cases involving 

males were four times as likely as those involving females to be 

judicially waived to criminal court in 2008, and cases involving 

juveniles age 16 or older were more likely to be waived than 

those involving juveniles younger than 16. 

In 31% (43,500) of the 139,300 person offense cases in which 

the youth was adjudicated delinquent in 2008, the most severe 

disposition imposed was placement out of the home in a residential facility. Probation was ordered in 59% (82,200) of the cases 

and 10% (13,600) resulted in other sanctions, including referral 

to an outside agency, fines, community service, and restitution. 

Among person offense cases in which youth were adjudicated 

delinquent, the percentage of youth ordered to out-of-home 

placement decreased between 1985 and 2008, and the percentage of youth ordered to probation remained the same. 

In 2008, those most likely to receive a disposition of out-of-home 

placement for person offense cases were youth age 16 or older, 

males, and American Indian youth. Those most likely to be 

ordered to probation were youth age 15 or younger, females, and 

Asian youth. 

For further information 

This fact sheet is based on the report, Juvenile Court Statistics 

2008, which is available through OJJDP’s Web site (ojjdp.gov). 

To learn more about juvenile court cases, visit OJJDP’s online 

Statistical Briefing Book (ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/) 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 “Data Analysis Tools” section of the Statistical Briefing Book. 

Sarah Hockenberry, M.S., a Research Associate with the National Center 

for Juvenile Justice, prepared this document as a product of the National 

Juvenile Court Data Archive, which is supported by OJJDP grant 2010– 

JR–FX–0031. 

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; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender 

Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. 

Fact Sheet NCJ 236480