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Several factors influence the decline in juvenile and adult crime arrests between 1993 and 2002. The influencing factors are situational crime prevention, target-hardening techniques, number of repeat offenders, offenders never caught and aging out process (maturation process). Drug involvement, adolescent/parental relationships, and teenage parents are also factors for the percentile of parents involved.

Juvenile and adult crime arrests declined between 1993 and 2002 because of situational crime prevention and target-hardening techniques. “Situational crime prevention strategies aim to reduce the opportunities people have to commit particular crimes…risks greater than rewards. Target-hardening techniques is a “crime prevention technique that makes it more difficult for would be delinquents to carry out the illegal act, for example, installing a security device in a home” (pg. 74). This was the beginning of an era in technology for tracking devices and car alarms. During this time neighborhood watch programs and security tracking devices increased the risks and decreased the rewards for crime.

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According to Siegel, Welsh & Senna, “Juvenile arrest data must be interpreted with caution, however. First, the number of teenagers arrested does not present the actual number of youths who have committed delinquent acts. Some offenders are never counted because they are never caught…In addition, when an arrested offender commits multiple crimes, only the most serious one is recorded” (p. 35).

            One reason for the overall decline in arrests in the mid 1990’s is age. With the aging of society and a decline in birthrate, the overall crime began to decrease in the mid 1990’s. Dr. Mosher noted that juvenile crime has decreased between 1993 and 2002 with the peak age of offending is seventeen. Dr. Mosher claims that according to Blumstein, the average age group for committing murders is eighteen to twenty four years of age. The decline in juvenile offending murder rates appears to have a correlation to a shift in age group, as the percentage decline is drastically different from juveniles to adults. We may ask ourselves if the data for murder rates in the various statistical researches is skewed due to the shift in age grouping.

            Teenage parents may account for a small portion of the decrease in percentage of arrests in 1993 through 2002. Humes (1996) wrote about Elias who is the father of a baby girl. Elias claims that people must have a need for change. “Like for me, it wasn’t until I had my baby girl that I realized I wanted to change, to settle down and get an apartment and a job and take care of her. No speech from a judge could make me give a damn. I had to have a baby before I could change” (p. 19) For this reason, he would unlikely become a repeat offender, therefore lowering the statistics of percentile arrests.

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     Drug involvement has always been a major player in the rise and fall of juvenile murder rates.  Dr. Mosher suggested “Crack cocaine distribution rates have declined over recent years which makes it no coincides of declined juvenile murder rates”.

            In conducting research we need to ask where the sample data was collected. According to Siegel, Welsh & Senna (2006), the social class-delinquency relationship was challenged by pioneering self-reporting studies, specifically those that revealed no direct relationship between social class and the commission of delinquent acts. Instead, socioeconomic class was related to the manner of official processing by police, court, and correctional agencies. In other words, though both poor and affluent kids get into fights, shoplift, and take drugs, only the indigent are likely to be arrested and sent to juvenile court (pg. 45). According to this theory, we may ask if the data is an accurate representation of the total United States population of juvenile and adult offenders. Is the data provided predominately from the most crime ridden cities or a sample from an equal number of cities?

            As a forty year old student making his third career change, I have been through the economic swings from the mid 1990’s through 2007. It appears to me that there is no coincide between the economic upswing and the reduction in juvenile arrests. During this time, many families were enjoying the benefits of a strong economy, therefore having the opportunity to spend more time in structured family activities. Structured activities helps keep juvenile off the street. According to Persson, Kerr, and Stattin (2007),

youths who parents knew little about their children’s daily activities and who disclosed little to their parents were more likely to enter into unstructured activities over time…Another possible role that good relationships with parents might play is to moderate the potential negative consequences of switching from structured to peer-oriented, unstructured activities, such as hanging out on the streets…When youths are loitering, opportunities arise to engage in criminal acts, such as shoplifting and vandalism. Strong parent-youth relationships might prevent youths from acting in these situations (pg.198).

For more information on societal issues see: Repression and the Ruling Class 

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