Strategies for Youth  

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Facts

FactsBureau of Justice Statistics survey data indicates that between 1998 and 2008, youth aged 16,17 and 18 represent 7.6% of the population, are involved in 3.5% of all interactions with police, and incur 30.1% of all interactions involving use of force by the police with police initiating the use of force in 81% of the incidents.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of Police Contacts 1 indicates shows that approximately 4 to 5 million youth aged 16, 17, 18 and 19 have face-to-face interactions with police annually. (Unfortunately, existing instruments do not capture information for youth aged 14 and 15 who represent the largest number of youth in juvenile courts).  Differences in police treatment of youth by gender and race are consistent over time. 

Due to changes in the survey collection instrument, including different approaches to disaggregation of data by age, it is difficult to consistently demonstrate of the longitudinal aspects of some of this data.2 However, there are several factors which remain unchanged since the survey was initially conducted in 1996:

  • Males typically account for a larger percentage of contacts involving force compared to their overall level of police contacts;
  • Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to experience use of force: for instance, black youth have an overall police contact rate of 1 in 10 contacts, but the use of force rate is 1 in 4. 
  • The percentage of police-initiated contacts resulting in use of force remains stable at 80% between 2002-2005.
  • The younger the person, the more likely the use of force.
YEAR Rate of face-to-face contacts between police & youth aged 16-17 Rate of face-to-face contacts between police & youth aged 18-19
1999 229 343
2002 208 324

 

Selected Data from Contacts Between Police & the Public Reports 1997-2007

YEAR % of Youth Aged 16, 17, 18, 19 in U.S. Population Percentage of youth who had contact with police Police reports of use of force with 16, 17, 18, and 19 y.o. % of use of force w/youth % of use force in jurisdictions w/population
of < 100,000
1999 7.6% 10.0%
for 16-19 y.o.		 129,045 30.6% 73.8%
2002 7.5% 20.8%
for 16-17 y.o.		 152,120 22.8% 65.3%
2005 NA 20.8%
for 16-17 y.o.		 158,960 22.5% NA

*Data on respondents’ description of their own behavior, including provocations in the form of arguing, cursing, insulting, disobeying, threatening, hitting, and running from officers was not disaggregated by age.

The placement of police in schools has increased dramatically since 1991 and the federal Gun Free Schools Act.  According to the National Center for Education Statistics:

  • Nearly 70% of public school students, age 12-18, reported police officer or security guards patrol their hallways;
  • 61% of public high schools using random police dog sniff-searches and 11% of public school students pass through metal detectors at schools.3
  • Arresting Children studied FBI juvenille arrest data between 1908 and 2006. Authors Jeffrey Butts and Haward N. Snyder, found that while the ages of Juveniles has remained constant - rebutting claims that younger children are getting more violent - 6% of all arrests involving preteens showed significant increases in simple assaults, minor vandalism, and disorderly conduct on school days. These conclusions may permit the interpretation that the presence of police officers in schools has increased arrest rates for preteens for minor misconduct.

Racial disparities in arrests of youth for identical conduct remains of concern: the disparities are large and systemic:

  • Youth of color are much more likely to be arrested than white youth;
  • For instance, for juvenile arrests per 1,000 persons in the population, African-American youth are twice as likely to be arrested according to relative rate indices (RRIS);4
  • From 2001 to 2006, the arrest rate for white youth decreased 9% while arrests of black youth increased 7%, and showed the greatest disparity in arrest rates for person offenses, for “which African Americans are nearly four times more likely than whites to be arrested.” 5
  • Although African-American youth were 17% of the population in 2005, they represented 30% of the children arrested in America and the overall RRIS for “arrests of African-American youth in 2006 remained at the highest point in a decade…” leading to the inexorable conclusion that while most African-American youth are arrested for nonviolent crimes, they are disproportionately arrested for every offense. 6
  • Latino youth may be faring worse: they were over arrested by factors of two in Los Angeles, California and by a factor of five in Massachusetts – all the more remarkable in view of states inconsistent definition and therefore data collection on Latino youth arrest data.7

 

1. Notably, the number of survey respondents over the years have decreased: 1999: 94,717 respondents; 2002: 76,910 respondents; 2005: 63,943 respondents.

2. Matthew Durose, Erica L. Smith, and Patrick A. Langan, Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2005, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, April 2007, NCJ 215243, Appendix.  www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cpp05.htm.

3. Rachel Dinkes et al., Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2007, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education & Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 2008.

4. See, And Justice for Some: Differential Treatment of Youth of Color in the Juvenile Justice System, Poe-Yamagata, E. and Jones, M. (2000); National Disproportionate Minority Contact Databook, National Center for Juvenile Justice for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2008, Puzzanchera, C. and Adams, B.

5. Critical Condition, at 20.

6. Id.

7. Donde Esta La Justicia, Building Blocks for Youth, (2005). The report shows how the tendency to over-arrest Latino youth is the beginning of a disproportionately journey into the juvenile justice systems where being a Latino means differential treatment at every step of the system. See also, Broken Promises: The Juvenille Justice Sytem and Latin Youth, Cassandra Villanneva, National Council of La Raza (2008).

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