Arrest trends by offense, age, and race

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Serving Children, Families, and Communities

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Trends in arrest rates by race for Violent crimes* (rates are per 100,000 in age group)
Age: Juvenile

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Charts:	All races	White	Black	American Indian	Asian

Years

All races

White

Black

American Indian

Asian

1980

283.9

164.6

983.9

187.9

111.3

1981

285.4

157.6

1,032.5

153.7

96.9

1982

281.3

159.9

983.8

187.5

100.5

1983

266.7

147.9

951.8

148.6

85.7

1984

263.8

145.7

945.6

137.0

79.0

1985

277.4

157.5

968.8

168.7

78.5

1986

287.7

163.6

1,002.3

162.5

77.2

1987

280.5

156.8

984.6

175.1

82.0

1988

318.9

180.2

1,097.4

206.6

109.4

1989

370.8

211.5

1,269.3

201.0

105.0

1990

395.5

233.6

1,308.7

209.7

123.2

1991

417.6

257.1

1,327.4

217.3

138.1

1992

434.4

264.8

1,393.4

228.5

140.8

1993

454.4

273.5

1,470.7

267.4

153.4

1994

483.1

293.0

1,546.8

300.3

176.0

1995

473.5

290.1

1,499.8

317.1

171.3

1996

418.9

271.2

1,243.4

274.5

181.8

1997

379.6

252.5

1,091.5

253.4

159.8

1998

341.6

234.5

944.1

232.9

133.0

1999

309.5

214.5

839.5

212.7

116.8

2000

289.5

199.4

786.9

190.8

109.8

2001

280.3

193.3

758.3

167.2

96.1

2002

261.9

179.3

707.6

171.2

89.3

2003

258.1

171.1

721.3

145.7

81.3

2004

254.3

167.5

713.0

145.7

70.5

2005

267.6

165.5

799.5

148.1

65.5

2006

281.9

171.2

854.3

166.1

72.2

2007

271.9

166.8

820.1

140.2

66.9

2008

272.4

164.4

841.0

113.2

61.9

2009

245.6

147.7

762.2

114.4

57.0

2010

217.3

133.5

665.6

109.7

45.0

2011

195.3

118.5

609.3

101.9

39.4

2012

176.0

104.7

559.1

88.8

45.0

2013

153.3

88.2

507.6

79.1

26.5

2014

152.2

88.4

500.9

72.9

29.6

2015

144.6

85.2

468.2

85.8

31.5

2016

144.5

84.0

471.8

98.8

31.3

2017

142.4

85.2

452.2

108.6

28.9

2018

136.8

81.5

437.6

80.7

28.1

2019

130.9

83.8

384.9

117.4

31.2

2020

96.4

63.2

273.5

117.8

19.6

* The "violent crimes" category includes the offenses of murder, robbery, and aggravated assault and is presented as an alternative to the Violent Crime Index, which is not available as a result of the change to the definition of rape in 2013. In any given year prior to the change in the rape definition, these three offenses accounted for more than 95% of arrests for Violent Crime Index offenses.

Note: The juvenile arrest rate is based on the number of arrests of persons ages 0-17 per 100,000 persons ages 10-17 in the resident population.

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.

Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Trends in arrest rates by race for Violent crimes* (rates are per 100,000 in age group). Available: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/ucr_trend.asp?table_in=2. Released on July 08, 2022.

Data source: Arrest estimates for 1980-2014 developed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and disseminated through "Arrest Data Analysis Tool." Online. Available from the BJS website.

Arrest estimates for 2015-2020 were developed by the National Center for Juvenile Justice based on the FBI’s annual Master Arrest Files of 12-month reporting departments available from the Crime Data Explorer. Arrest estimates for 2015-2019 were revised in June 2022.