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Juvenile Delinquents in the Federal Criminal Justice System

NCJ Number
163066
Date Published
February 1997
Annotation
Describes juvenile offenders processed in the Federal criminal justice system, including the number of juveniles charged with acts of delinquency, the offenses for which they were charged, the proportion adjudicated delinquent, and the sanctions imposed.
Abstract

Describes juvenile offenders processed in the Federal criminal justice system, including the number of juveniles charged with acts of delinquency, the offenses for which they were charged, the proportion adjudicated delinquent, and the sanctions imposed. Few juveniles are adjudicated in the Federal criminal justice system. During 1995, 468 juveniles were referred to Federal prosecutors for investigation -- 49% of these cases were declined further action. Almost half (47%) of those juveniles adjudicated in the Federal courts during 1995 were charged with either a violent offense (32%) or a drug offense (15%). About a third (37%) of those juveniles adjudicated delinquent were committed to a Federal correctional facility. The average length of confinement ordered was 34 months. Over half (61%) of the juvenile delinquents confined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons were Native Americans.

Date Published: February 1, 1997