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Juvenile violent crime slipped in 1995
August 8, 1996
Web posted at: 11:20 p.m. EDT
From Correspondent Anthony Collings
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After years of sharply rising juvenile crime rates, Attorney General Janet Reno had good news Thursday.
"In 1995, rates for juvenile violent crime and murder decreased. This was the first time both were down in a decade," she said.
Preliminary FBI figures show arrests of youths ages 10 to 17 for all violent crimes fell 2.9 percent last year, compared to 1994. Within that total, arrests for murder were down 15.2 percent.
It is excellent news, but it would be even better if officials knew why juvenile crime dropped. Several factors have been given partial credit for the change.
"This country is targeting and focused on youthful violent offenders," Police Foundation president Hubert Williams said. He also suggested that "youthful violent offenders are observing their older brothers and sisters and the destruction of their lives."
Experts say better police work in big cities had a big impact. One-fourth of all the murders by juveniles are concentrated in a handful of cities such as New York, where beefed-up law enforcement has paid off. The arrest rate for murders by teens ages 15 to 19 dropped 27 percent in 1995.
President Clinton, at a campaign appearance in Salinas, California, said the figures showed his anti-crime program was working. He and Reno said crime prevention is the key.
"We've got to look at the programs that are working across the nation to prevent crime -- mentoring programs, dispute resolution programs that teach children how to resolve conflicts without knives and guns and fists, and truancy prevention programs that get them back into school and keep them out of trouble," Reno said.
Other experts say an improved economy has made it easier for teens to get jobs, and thus stay out of trouble.
Even as the Clinton administration trumpets the good news, it is being cautious. Reno conceded the arrest rate is still too high. The 1995 juvenile murder arrest rate was 11.2 per 100,000, down from 13.2 in 1994; and the 1995 combined juvenile arrest rate for murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault was 511.9 per 100,000, down from 527.4 in 1994.
With the teen-age population expected to grow 17 percent in the next decade, the absolute numbers of crimes committed by young people could still go up, unless society continues to work against the statistics.
"What is so important is that we not relax and we not take credit for victory yet," Reno said.
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