U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Jeff Slowikowski, Acting Administrator June 2009

Person Offense Cases in 

Juvenile Court, 2005
 by Sarah Hockenberry 

Person offenses accounted for 25% of all 

delinquency cases in 2005 

U.S. juvenile courts handled an estimated 429,500 delinquency 

cases in 2005 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 2005 person offense caseload was 133% 

greater than in 1985. In 2005, person offenses accounted for 25% 

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

In 2005, juvenile courts handled 13.6 person offense cases for 

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

court jurisdiction. The 2005 person offense case rate was 94% 

greater than the 1985 rate, but 3% less than the peak rate in 1997. 

Person offense cases handled by juvenile courts, 

1985–2005 

Percent change 

Most severe disposition 1985 2005 1985–2005 

Cases 

Total person offenses* 184,700 429,500 133% 

Violent Crime Index 64,000 81,600 27 

Criminal homicide 1,200 1,400 11 

Forcible rape 3,600 4,400 22 

Robbery 25,500 26,000 2 

Aggravated assault 35,700 49,900 49 

Simple assault 101,800 298,600 193 

Case rate**
 

Total person offenses* 7.0 13.6 94%
 

Violent Crime Index 2.4 2.6 6
 

Criminal homicide 0.0 0.0 –7 

Forcible rape 0.1 0.1 1 

Robbery 1.0 0.8 –15 

Aggravated assault 1.3 1.6 23 

Simple assault 3.9 9.4 144 

* 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. 

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

2005. This was less than 0.3% of all person offense cases that 

juvenile courts handled in 2005. The majority of person offense 

cases involved charges of simple assault (298,600) or aggravated 

assault (49,900). Together, these two offenses accounted for 81% 

of all person offense cases processed in 2005. 

Characteristics of offenders 

More than half (57%) of person offense cases in 2005 involved 

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

Indian youth, and 1% involved Asian youth. Between 1985 and 

2005, 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 (97%), followed by 

black youth (81%), Asian youth (80%), and American Indian 

youth (44%). Person offense case rates peaked for all racial 

groups during the 1990s and declined through the early 2000s. 

While the case rates were generally flat between 2000 and 2005 

The person offense case rate for black youth increased 

annually between 2000 and 2005 

0 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

Cases per 1,000 juveniles ages 10–upper age 

Black 

Amer. Indian 

White 

Asian 

1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 

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for white, American Indian, and Asian youth, the case rate for 

black youth increased 20%, almost reaching its 1995 peak rate. 

Compared with 1985, juveniles involved in person offense cases 

in 2005 were slightly younger and more likely to be female. In 

2005, 64% of person offenses involved juveniles younger than 

16, compared with 61% in 1985. Between 1985 and 2005, the 

relative increase in the female caseload outpaced that of males 

for person offenses (247% vs. 103%). As a result, the female 

share of the person offense caseload has grown since 1985. For 

example, females accounted for about 20% of person offenses 

for each year between 1985 and 1991. Between 1991 and 2005, 

the female proportion of the person offense caseload steadily 

increased to 30%. 

Compared with males, the 2005 female delinquency caseload had 

a greater proportion of simple assault cases (22% vs. 16%) and 

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

assault cases increased both for males and females between 1985 

and 2005, the growth in female assault cases exceeded the 

growth in male assault cases (71% vs. 56%). 

Case processing 

Of the 429,500 person offense cases that juvenile courts disposed 

in 2005, 58% (251,200) were handled formally (i.e., a petition 

was filed requesting an adjudicatory or transfer hearing). Of 

these petitioned cases, 1% (3,500) were judicially waived to 

criminal court, 61% (153,000) resulted in the youth being adjudicated delinquent in the juvenile justice system, and 38% (94,700) 

resulted in the youth being adjudicated not delinquent. 

The proportion of petitioned person offense cases judicially 

waived to criminal court peaked in 1994, when 2.6% (5,500) of 

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

declined. By 2005, 1.4% (3,500) 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 2005. Cases involving 

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

judicially waived to criminal court in 2005, and cases involving 

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

those involving juveniles younger than 16. In 2005, cases involving American Indian youth charged with a person offense were 

more likely to be judicially waived than person offense cases 

involving white, black, or Asian youth. 

In 25% (37,800) of the 153,000 person offense cases in which 

the youth was adjudicated delinquent in 2005, the most severe 

disposition that the court imposed was placement out of the 

home in a residential facility. Probation was ordered in 63% 

(95,800) of the cases and 13% (19,500) 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 2005, and the percentage 

of youth ordered to probation increased. 

Demographic and case processing characteristics of 

person offense cases 

Characteristics 1985 1995 2005 

Gender 

Male 80% 75% 70% 

Female 20 25 30 

Age at referral 

15 or younger 61% 65% 64% 

16 or older 39 35 36 

Race/ethnicity 

White 59% 59% 57% 

Black 39 38 41 

American Indian 1 1 1 

Asian 1 1 1 

Predisposition detention 

Detained 24% 22% 25% 

Not detained 76 78 75 

Intake decision 

Petitioned 54% 59% 58% 

Not petitioned 46 41 42 

Judicial decision of petitioned cases 

Adjudicated delinquent 56% 52% 61% 

Not adjudicated delinquent 42 46 38 

Waived to criminal court 2 2 1 

Most severe disposition of adjudicated cases 

Placed 36% 31% 25% 

Probation 56 56 63 

Other 8 12 13 

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

In 2005, 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 

white youth. 

For further information 

This Fact Sheet is based on the report Juvenile Court Statistics 

2005, which is available through OJJDP’s Web site (www.ojp. 

usdoj.gov/ojjdp). To learn more about juvenile court cases, visit 

OJJDP’s online Statistical Briefing Book (www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ 

ojstatbb/index.html) and click on “Juveniles in Court.” OJJDP 

also supports Easy Access to Juvenile Court Statistics, a Webbased 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 Assistant 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 grants 2007– 

JL–FX–0007 and 2007–JL–FX–0022. 

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 Community Capacity 

Development Office; the National Institute of Justice; the Office for Victims 

of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, 

Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). 

Fact Sheet NCJ 224537