All OJJDP publications may be viewed and downloaded on the publications section of the OJJDP website. Print publications may be ordered online at the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) website.
Psychosocial Maturity and Desistance From Crime in a Sample of Serious Juvenile Offenders (Bulletin)
NCJ 248391
Pathways to Desistance Series
This bulletin presents findings on the link between psychosocial maturity and desistance from crime as youth transition from mid-adolescence to early adulthood (ages 14–25). The research shows that youth experience protracted maturation of brain systems responsible for self-regulation into their mid-twenties. Youth whose antisocial behavior continued into early adulthood were found to have lower levels of psychosocial maturity as teenagers compared with other antisocial youth. Most juvenile offenders, including those who committed serious crimes, grow out of antisocial behavior as they transition to adults, the study found. The Pathways to Desistance study followed more than 1,300 serious juvenile offenders for 7 years after their conviction.
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Juvenile Arrests 2012 (Bulletin)
NCJ 248513
National Report Series
This bulletin provides a summary and an analysis of 2012 juvenile crime and arrest data reported by local law enforcement agencies nationwide as cited in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting program. As has been the case in general for the past decade, juvenile arrest data for 2012 provide reasons for encouragement. Trends since 1980 reveal that arrest rates in 2012 for all crime index offense categories were at historic low levels. The number of juvenile arrests dropped 10 percent between 2011 and 2012 and has dropped 37 percent since 2003.
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Coming Soon—
Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2012: Selected Findings (Bulletin)
National Report Series
Conducted biennially by OJJDP, the Juvenile Residential Facility Census collects information about facilities in which juvenile offenders are held and reports the number of youth who were injured or died in custody during the past 12 months. Findings from the 2012 census show that the juvenile offender population dropped 14 percent from 2010 to 2012 to 57,190 offenders younger than 21 on the census date, the lowest number since 1975. For the first time since 2000, more offenders were in local facilities on the census day in 2012 than were in state-operated facilities. The data also describe security features that are used in facilities. Overall, 43 percent of facilities lock youth in their sleeping rooms at least some of the time. Fourteen deaths were reported; five were suicides. Most of those deaths were white and African American non-Hispanic males. Most of the suicides occurred weeks after the youth’s detainment.