Juvenile Court Statistics 2005. - Office of Juvenile Justice and ...

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Appendix B: Glossary of Terms■■check or credit card fraud, andattempts to commit any suchoffenses.Drug law violations—Includes unlawfulsale, purchase, distribution,manufacture, cultivation, transport,possession, or use of a controlledor prohibited substance or drugor drug paraphernalia, or attemptto commit these acts. Sniffing ofglue, paint, gasoline, and other inhalantsis also included. Hence,the term is broader than the UCRcategory “drug abuse violations.”Offenses against public order—Includes weapons offenses; nonviolentsex offenses; liquor law violations,not status; disorderlyconduct; obstruction of justice;and other offenses against publicorder as defined below.◆◆◆Weapons offenses—Unlawfulsale, distribution, manufacture,alteration, transportation, possession,or use of a deadly ordangerous weapon or accessory,or attempt to commit any ofthese acts. The term is used inthe same sense as the UCR category“weapons: carrying, possessing,etc.”Sex offenses—All offenses havinga sexual element not involvingviolence. The termcombines the meaning of theUCR categories “prostitutionand commercialized vice” and“sex offenses.” It includes offensessuch as statutory rape,indecent exposure, prostitution,solicitation, pimping,lewdness, fornication, andadultery.Liquor law violations, notstatus—Being in a public placewhile intoxicated through consumptionof alcohol. It includespublic intoxication,drunkenness, and other liquorlaw violations. It does notinclude driving under theinfluence. The term is usedin the same sense as the UCR■◆◆◆category of the same name.Some States treat public drunkennessof juveniles as a statusoffense rather than delinquency.Hence, some of these offensesmay appear under the statusoffense code “status liquor lawviolations.” (When a personwho is publicly intoxicatedperforms acts that cause a disturbance,he or she may becharged with disorderly conduct.)Disorderly conduct—Unlawfulinterruption of the peace, quiet,or order of a community,including offenses called disturbingthe peace, vagrancy,loitering, unlawful assembly,and riot.Obstruction of justice—Intentionallyobstructing court orlaw enforcement efforts in theadministration of justice, actingin a way calculated to lessenthe authority or dignity ofthe court, failing to obey thelawful order of a court, escapingfrom confinement, and violatingprobation or parole. Thisterm includes contempt, perjury,bribery of witnesses, failureto report a crime, and nonviolentresistance of arrest.Other offenses against publicorder—Other offenses againstgovernment administration orregulation, such as bribery; violationsof laws pertaining tofish and game, gambling,health, hitchhiking, and immigration;and false fire alarms.Status offenses—Includes acts ortypes of conduct that are offensesonly when committed or engagedin by a juvenile and that can beadjudicated only by a juvenilecourt. Although State statutesdefining status offenses vary andsome States may classify casesinvolving these offenses asdependency cases, for the purposesof this Report the followingtypes of offenses are classified asstatus offenses:■◆◆◆◆◆◆Runaway—Leaving the custodyand home of parents, guardians,or custodians withoutpermission and failing to returnwithin a reasonable lengthof time, in violation of a statuteregulating the conduct ofyouth.Truancy—Violation of a compulsoryschool attendance law.Curfew violations—Beingfound in a public place after aspecified hour of the evening,usually established in a localordinance applying only to personsunder a specified age.Ungovernability—Being beyondthe control of parents,guardians, or custodians orbeing disobedient of parentalauthority. This classification isreferred to in various juvenilecodes as unruly, unmanageable,and incorrigible.Status liquor law violations—Violation of laws regulating thepossession, purchase, or consumptionof liquor by minors.Some states treat consumptionof alcohol and public drunkennessof juveniles as status offensesrather than delinquency.Hence, some of theseoffenses may appear underthis status offense code.Miscellaneous status offenses—Numerous status offenses notincluded above (e.g., tobaccoviolation and violation of acourt order in a status offenseproceeding) and those offensescoded as “other” in a jurisdiction’soriginal data.Dependency offenses—Includesactions that come to the attentionof a juvenile court involving neglector inadequate care of minorson the part of the parents orguardians, such as abandonmentor desertion; abuse or cruel treatment;improper or inadequateconditions in the home; and insufficientcare or support resulting104Juvenile Court Statistics 2005
Appendix B: Glossary of Termsfrom death, absence, or physicalor mental incapacity of the parentsor guardians.Offenses may also be grouped intocategories commonly used in theFBI’s Uniform Crime Reports. Thesegroupings are:■■Violent Crime Index—Includesthe offenses of murder/nonnegligentmanslaughter, forcible rape,robbery, and aggravated assault.Property Crime Index—Includesthe offenses of burglary, larcenytheft,motor vehicle theft, and arson.Source of referral: The agency or individualfiling a complaint with intakethat initiates court processing.■■Law enforcement agency—Includes metropolitan police, statepolice, park police, sheriffs, constables,police assigned to the juvenilecourt for special duty, andall others performing a policefunction, with the exception ofprobation officers and officers ofthe court.School—Includes counselors,teachers, principals, and attendanceofficers.■■Relatives—Includes the youth’sown parents, foster parents, adoptiveparents, stepparents, grandparents,aunts, uncles, and otherlegal guardians.Other—Includes social agencies,district attorneys, probation officers,victims, other private citizens,and miscellaneous sources ofreferral often only defined by thecode “other” in the original data.Status offense: Behavior that is consideredan offense only when committedby a juvenile (e.g., running awayfrom home). (See “reason for referral.”)Unit of count: A case disposed by acourt with juvenile jurisdiction duringthe calendar year. Each case representsa youth referred to the juvenilecourt for a new referral for one ormore offenses. (See “reason for referral.”)The term disposed means thatduring the year some definite actionwas taken or some treatment planwas decided on or initiated. (See “disposition.”)Under this definition, ayouth could be involved in more thanone case during a calendar year.Upper age of jurisdiction: The oldestage at which a juvenile court hasoriginal jurisdiction over an individualfor law-violating behavior. For thetime period covered by this Report,the upper age of jurisdiction was 15in 3 States (Connecticut, New York,and North Carolina) and 16 in 10States (Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana,Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri,New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas,and Wisconsin). In the remaining37 States and the District of Columbia,the upper age of jurisdiction was17. It must be noted that within mostStates, there are exceptions in whichyouth at or below the State’s upperage of jurisdiction can be placed underthe original jurisdiction of theadult criminal court. For example, inmost States, if a youth of a certainage is charged with an offense from adefined list of “excluded offenses,”the case must originate in the adultcriminal court. In addition, in a numberof States, the district attorney isgiven the discretion of filing certaincases in either the juvenile court orthe criminal court. Therefore, whilethe upper age of jurisdiction is commonlyrecognized in all States, thereare numerous exceptions to this agecriterion.Juvenile Court Statistics 2005 105
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PrefaceThe Office of Juvenile Justi
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Chapter 1: IntroductionIn other com
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Chapter 1: Introductionconsult appe
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Chapter 2: National Estimates of De
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Chapter 3National Estimates ofDelin
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Page 113 and 114: Appendix BGlossary of TermsAdjudica
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Page 120 and 121: Appendix C: Reported Juvenile Court
Page 150 and 151: IndexProbation, 89Trends, 76-78Offe
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