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 website.
Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Court, 2013
NCJ 248899
National Report Series
This fact sheet presents statistics on delinquency cases handled in U.S. juvenile courts between 1985 and 2013. Estimates are based on data from more than 2,400 juvenile courts with jurisdiction over 84 percent of the U.S. juvenile population. In 2013, juvenile courts handled nearly 1.1 million delinquency cases involving juveniles charged with criminal law violations. Data on public order, person, and property offenses and drug law violations by age, gender, and race are included as well as rates of dismissal, detention, waivers to criminal court, and adjudication and disposition.
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Child Forensic Interviewing: Best Practices
NCJ 248749
This bulletin consolidates the current knowledge of professionals from several major forensic interview training programs on best practices for interviewing children in cases of alleged abuse. The authors discuss the purpose of the child forensic interview, provide historical context, review overall considerations, and outline each stage of the interview in detail. The publication provides guidance on topics such as interview timing and setting, question type, rapport-building between the interviewer and the victim, interview aids as well as vicarious trauma and self-care.
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Children’s Exposure to Violence, Crime, and Abuse: An Update
NCJ 248547
National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence Series
This bulletin discusses the second National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV II), conducted in 2011 as a followup to the original NatSCEV I survey conducted in 2008. OJJDP and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored both surveys. The NatSCEV II survey confirmed NatSCEV I’s finding that children’s exposure to violence is common; nearly 60 percent of the sample (57.7 percent) had been exposed to violence in the past year, and more than 1 in 10 reported 5 or more exposures. This exposure occurs across all age ranges of childhood and for both genders.
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Beyond Detention Series
The following bulletins from the Office's Beyond Detention series present findings from the OJJDP-sponsored Northwestern Juvenile Project—a longitudinal study of youth detained at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, IL.
Violent Death in Delinquent Youth After Detention
NCJ 248408The authors looked at mortality rates among the youth enrolled in the project. Among their findings: The standardized mortality rate for delinquent youth is more than four times the rate for youth in the general population. More specifically, the mortality rate for delinquent female youth is nearly eight times the rate in the general population, African American youth experience the highest mortality rate, and the vast majority of deaths among delinquent youth were homicides from gunshot wounds.
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Perceived Barriers to Mental Health Services Among Detained Youth
NCJ 248522The authors examined youth’s perceptions of barriers to mental health services, focusing on youth with alcohol, drug, and mental health disorders. Among their findings: Most frequently, youth did not receive services because they believed their problems would go away without outside help (56.5 percent); nearly one-third of youth (31.7 percent) were not sure whom to contact or where to get help; and nearly one-fifth of the sample (19.1 percent) reported difficulty in obtaining help.
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Psychiatric Disorders in Youth After Detention
NCJ 246824The authors discuss findings related to the prevalence and persistence of psychiatric disorders in youth after detention. Five years after the first interview, more than 45 percent of male juveniles and nearly 30 percent of female juveniles had one or more psychiatric disorders. Substance use disorders were the most common and most likely to persist. As compared to African Americans, non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics had higher rates of substance use disorders. Females had higher rates of depression over time.
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Detained Youth Processed in Juvenile and Adult Court: Psychiatric Disorders and Mental Health Needs
NCJ 248283The authors examined the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among youth transferred to adult criminal court compared with those processed in juvenile court. Findings indicate that many youth are being transferred to adult criminal court, with males, African Americans, Hispanics, and older youth significantly more likely to be processed in adult criminal court than females, non-Hispanic whites, and younger youth. Among youth processed in adult criminal court, those sentenced to prison had significantly greater odds than those who received a less severe sentence of having a disruptive behavior disorder, a substance use disorder, or co-occurring affective and anxiety disorders.
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Now Available in e-Book Format—
Created as part of the Justice Department’s Defending Childhood Initiative, this report presents the Advisory Committee's policy recommendations on the current epidemic of violence and suggestions for preventing violence and alleviating its impact on American Indian and Alaska Native children.
Download this and other OJJDP e-books.