Juvenile court handling of petitioned status offense cases varied little between males and females in 1997 (figure 26). The proportion of status offense cases adjudicated was 53% for males and 51% for females. The likelihood of adjudication was comparable for males and females across all offense categories except liquor law violations: males were slightly more likely than females (56% versus 49%) to be adjudicated for liquor law violations (table 76). The likelihood of adjudication declined between 1988 and 1997 in all offense categories for both sexes.

The probability of out-of-home placement for adjudicated status offense cases was the same for both males and females (14%) in 1997 (table 77). The overall likelihood of out-of-home placement declined slightly between 1988 and 1997 for both sexes. For ungovernability cases, the likelihood of out-of-home placement declined between 1988 and 1997 for both sexes, from 30% to 24% for males and from 31% to 23% for females; for the other major offense categories, there was little change in the use of out-of-home placement for either sex.

For both males and females, the proportion of adjudicated status offense cases resulting in formal probation increased slightly between 1988 and 1997 (table 78). The increase in the use of probation was greatest for cases involving liquor law violations, from 50% to 62% for males and from 50% to 65% for females. Truancy was the only offense category with a decrease in probation use between 1988 and 1997. Truancy cases, however, were most likely to result in formal probation. Across all offense categories except ungovernability, female cases were slightly more likely than male cases to result in probation.