Juvenile Justice System and Risk Factor Data - Illinois Criminal ...

Arrest data by offense category is determined by a hierarchical method. In a single arrest
incident, a youth may be charged with multiple offenses. In the past, the most serious offense
could not always be determined easily. The Authority developed a hierarchy to determine the
most serious offense charge during an arrest by using the statute and offense class applied
systematically across years. Offense categories—property, person, drug, sex offenses, status,
weapons, and other offenses—were created based on the Illinois Compiled Statutes.
In 2007, arrests in which the most serious offense for which the youth was charged was a
property crime accounted for approximately one-third of all youth arrests. Arrests for offenses
against a person, including homicide, accounted for 28 percent of all youth arrests and arrests for
a drug offense accounted for 13 percent of all youth arrests. Arrests for status offenses accounted
for 3 percent of arrests and 2 percent of arrests were for weapons offenses. Sex offenses
accounted for 0.7 percent of all arrests. Offenses designated as “other,” those that did not fit into
the previous six categories, accounted for 22 percent of arrests.
Fifty-eight percent of youth arrested in 2007 were identified as black and 41 percent were
identified as white. As previously mentioned, Hispanic youth arrested in 2007 could appear in
any race category, depending on their specific demography and the reporting practices of local
law enforcement. Most youth arrestees were 15 or 16 years old (29 percent and 38 percent,
respectively). Most arrestees were also male (78 percent). Map 1 compares county rate changes
in youth arrests from 2002 to 2007.
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