The first wave of the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) interviewed a nationally representative sample of 9,000 youth who were between the ages of 12 and 16 at year-end 1996. The survey asked youth to report whether they had engaged in a variety of deviant and delinquent behaviors. Plans are to interview members of this cohort every 2 years to track changes in delinquent and criminal activity over the life course.

Less than one-tenth (8%) of youth ages 12-16 said they had ever been arrested

Of the 8% of youth who had ever been arrested, a substantial proportion (40%, or 3% of all youth) reported two or more arrests.

The proportion of youth ever arrested varied significantly by race and ethnicity for males but not for females

White males (9%) were less likely to have ever been arrested than black males (13%) or Hispanic males (12%). Further, a greater proportion of black males (7%) and Hispanic males (6%) than white males (4%) were arrested more than once.

Equal proportions of white (5%), black (6%), and Hispanic (7%) females had ever been arrested. In addition, white (2%), black (2%), and Hispanic (3%) females were equally likely to have been arrested more than once.

1999 National Report Series, Juvenile Justice Bulletin: Minorities in the Juvenile Justice System	December 1999