| Q: |
When are juveniles most likely to commit violent crime? |
| A: |
Violent crimes by juveniles occur most frequently in the hours immediately following the close of school on school days. |
Juvenile violent crime time of day
(Offenders per 1,000 juvenile violent crime offenders)
| Time |
School day |
Nonschool day |
| 6AM |
6.1 |
3.0 |
| 7AM |
22.9 |
4.8 |
| 8AM |
33.6 |
9.5 |
| 9AM |
28.5 |
9.2 |
| 10AM |
31.3 |
11.7 |
| 11AM |
39.5 |
14.6 |
| 12PM |
48.3 |
21.4 |
| 1PM |
38.4 |
18.9 |
| 2PM |
50.0 |
21.3 |
| 3PM |
63.3 |
24.6 |
| 4PM |
48.3 |
25.4 |
| 5PM |
36.2 |
25.6 |
| 6PM |
34.5 |
27.2 |
| 7PM |
31.2 |
28.7 |
| 8PM |
29.0 |
28.6 |
| 9PM |
25.2 |
26.3 |
| 10PM |
17.2 |
20.9 |
| 11PM |
11.3 |
16.5 |
| 12AM |
8.6 |
13.3 |
| 1AM |
5.8 |
10.1 |
| 2AM |
3.7 |
7.1 |
| 3AM |
3.2 |
4.8 |
| 4AM |
2.2 |
3.5 |
| 5AM |
2.1 |
2.4 |
Note: Violent crimes include murder, violent sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. Data are from law enforcement agencies in 38 states and the District of Columbia.
[ Graph version ]
[ CSV file ]
- Juvenile violence peaks in the afterschool hours on school days and in the evenings on nonschool days.
- On nonschool days, the incidence of juvenile violence increases through the afternoon and early evening hours, peaking between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
- The number of school days in a year is essentially equal to the number of nonschool days in a year. Despite this split, most (62%) violent crimes committed by juveniles occur on school days. Nearly one-fifth (18%) of juvenile violent crimes occur in the 4 hours between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on school days. A smaller proportion of juvenile violent crime (13%) occurs during the standard juvenile curfew hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (inclusive of both school and nonschool days).
- The annual number of hours in the curfew period (i.e., 8 hours every day in the year) is 4 times greater than the number of hours in the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. period on school days (i.e., 4 hours in half of the days in the year). Therefore, the rate of juvenile violence in the afterschool period is more than 5 times the rate in the juvenile curfew period (inclusive of both school and nonschool days).
- Consequently, efforts to reduce juvenile crime after school would appear to have greater potential to decrease a community’s violent crime rate than do juvenile curfews.
Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/offenders/qa03301.asp?qaDate=2016.
Released on October 22, 2018.
Data Source: National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. National Incident-Based Reporting System: Extract Files for 2016 [Computer file]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor].
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