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Juvenile Arrests
Q: How do juvenile arrest rates vary by State?
A: State variations in juvenile arrest rates may reflect differences in juvenile law-violating behavior, police behavior, and/or community standards; therefore, comparisons should be made with caution.

Juvenile arrest rates by State, 2020

State Reporting
Coverage		 Aggravated
assault		 Robbery Larceny
theft		 Drug
abuse		 Weapons
United States 76% 58 38 148 122 34
Alabama 1% 75 15 75 30 0
Alaska 98% 138 22 89 74 14
Arizona 87% 100 48 184 216 42
Arkansas 90% 90 28 224 195 33
California 99% 62 49 32 30 44
Colorado 87% 75 42 213 160 35
Connecticut 100% 28 30 165 59 21
Delaware 100% 121 97 197 103 60
District of Columbia 0% NA NA NA NA NA
Florida 100% 73 52 238 80 37
Georgia 57% 53 18 127 91 26
Hawaii 19% 46 12 91 133 0
Idaho 91% 49 3 227 294 19
Illinois 1% 81 155 155 378 148
Indiana 52% 62 37 119 111 37
Iowa 90% 114 28 343 241 30
Kansas 58% 48 8 154 295 10
Kentucky 83% 16 17 66 50 10
Louisiana 72% 133 54 249 168 92
Maine 100% 15 11 186 103 1
Maryland 19% 14 52 112 98 27
Massachusetts 87% 54 15 40 17 11
Michigan 95% 54 16 94 24 32
Minnesota 93% 56 64 264 143 41
Mississippi 38% 35 33 200 86 50
Missouri 80% 91 38 186 178 26
Montana 99% 167 13 378 186 5
Nebraska 56% 54 64 615 456 65
Nevada 100% 68 61 142 254 47
New Hampshire 96% 27 5 108 168 1
New Jersey 100% 37 36 105 199 46
New Mexico 44% 60 19 33 27 21
New York 49% 41 37 117 63 20
North Carolina 82% 31 37 129 71 23
North Dakota 99% 94 9 317 443 17
Ohio 75% 37 35 135 70 30
Oklahoma 99% 55 30 156 136 35
Oregon 85% 53 26 173 163 18
Pennsylvania 1% 61 7 155 223 27
Rhode Island 99% 48 14 146 72 56
South Carolina 84% 54 34 183 191 62
South Dakota 92% 140 12 330 644 47
Tennessee 88% 90 44 236 233 48
Texas 91% 53 38 132 140 27
Utah 88% 34 15 322 351 24
Vermont 99% 43 6 82 41 2
Virginia 99% 27 21 139 115 24
Washington 98% 46 41 114 47 18
West Virginia 66% 15 1 18 47 6
Wisconsin 95% 69 38 335 330 52
Wyoming 88% 57 4 392 732 20

NA = Crime in the United States 2020 reported no arrest counts for the District of Columbia.

Note: In this table the arrest rate is defined as the number of arrests of persons under age 18 for every 100,000 persons ages 10-17. Juvenile arrests (arrests of youth under age 18) reported at the State level in Crime in the United States cannot be disaggregated into more detailed age categories so that the arrests of persons under age 10 can be excluded in the rate calculation.

2020 was the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, which may have impacted policies, procedures, and data collection activities. Additionally, stay-at-home orders likely impacted the volume and type of law-violating behavior that came to the attention of law enforcement in 2020.
    Notes: Arrest rates for jurisdictions with less than complete reporting may not be representative of the entire state. Although juvenile arrest rates may largely reflect juvenile behavior, many other factors can affect the magnitude of these rates. Arrest rates are calculated by dividing the number of youth arrests made in the year by the number of youth living in the jurisdiction. Therefore, jurisdictions that arrest a relatively large number of nonresident juveniles would have a higher arrest rate than jurisdictions where resident youth behave similarly. Jurisdictions (especially small ones) that are vacation destinations or that are centers for economic activity in a region may have arrest rates that reflect the behavior of nonresident youth more than that of resident youth. Other factors that influence arrest rates in a given area include the attitudes of citizens toward crime, the policies of local law enforcement agencies, and the policies of other components of the justice system. In many areas, not all law enforcement agencies report their arrest data to the FBI. Rates for such areas are necessarily based on partial information and may not be accurate. Comparisons of juvenile arrest rates across jurisdictions can be informative. Because of factors noted, however, comparisons should be made with caution.
Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/qa05103.asp?qaDate=2020. Released on July 08, 2022.

Data Source: Adapted from the FBI's 2020 Crime in the United States Report [Tables 5 and 69] available from the Crime Data Explorer (https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/pages/downloads, retrieved June 6, 2022).