A Guide to Understanding the Well-Being of Children & Families in Erie County, Pennsylvania
Juvenile Arrests
CHARTS
Juvenile Arrests by County for 2002Juvenile Arrests by City for 2002
MEASUREMENT
Figures for juvenile arrests are from the Pennsylvania State Police Uniform Crime Report (UCR).1 It should be noted that reporting to the UCR is voluntary, so some local law enforcement agencies may not submit data; therefore, the figures reported may undercount the actual number of juvenile arrests. The percentage of juvenile arrests is the number of arrests of juveniles divided by the number of youth ages 10-17 (from Census 2000) and multiplied by 100.
DESCRIPTION
Youth is a time when some young people get into trouble. The more serious of these acts may lead to the youth being arrested. The seriousness of these offenses varies from property crimes such as vandalism to violent crimes such as murder. Arrests, however, are incidences so it is quite possible for one individual may be arrested more than once during a year.
DATA ANALYSIS
- Erie County’s percentage of juvenile arrests decreased 13.8% between 1998 and 2002. Compared to other Urban Third Class counties, Erie’s percentage is lower only than that of Dauphin County.
- Whites composed 78.6% of arrests while Blacks made up 19.7% of arrests in Erie County during 2002.
- Total arrests Erie County in 1998 were 22.4% female while this proportion increased to 25.6% in 2002.
FOOTNOTE
1 Summary Arrest Reports. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2003, from http://ucrreport.psp.state.pa.us/UCR/Reporting/Query/summary/ querysumarrestUI.asp.