The female percentage of juvenile arrests increased over the last two decades in most offense categories

If juvenile males and juvenile females were contributing equally to an arrest trend, then the female proportion of juvenile arrests would remain constant. If, however, the female proportion changes, then the female trend is different from the male trend—and a complete explanation of juvenile arrest patterns (and, by inference, of juvenile crime trends) must incorporate factors that affect males and females differently.

For example, a major story of the last decade was the rise and fall of juvenile Violent Crime Index arrests. During this period, the female percentage of juvenile arrests for violent crimes grew almost continuously—from 10% in 1980 to 17% in 1999. Thus, between 1980 and 1999, while both the male and female Violent Crime Index arrest rates rose and then fell, the female rate rose proportionately more and then fell proportionately less than the male rate. This implies that gender-specific factors were influencing these differential changes in male and female violent crime arrest rates.

Between 1980 and 1999, the female percentage of juvenile violent crime arrests increased, with the overall increase tied mainly to aggravated assault arrests The female percentage of juvenile arrests increased between 1980 and 1999 for each of the four Property Crime Index offenses Data source: Analysis of the FBI’s Crime in the United States reports for the years 1980 through 1999 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981 through 2000, respectively).

Over the last two decades, the female proportion of juvenile robbery arrests increased marginally (from 7% in 1980 to 9% in 1999), while the female proportion of aggravated assault arrests grew substantially (from 15% in 1980 to 22% in 1999). Similarly, the female proportion of simple assault arrests also increased considerably (from 21% in 1980 to 30% in 1999). If juvenile females were becoming more violent as compared with males, it would seem reasonable that their arrest percentage should have increased disproportionately for both robberies and assaults. But it was only in assaults that the percentage increased disproportionately.

A possible (though not the only) explanation for this phenomenon is the changing response of law enforcement to domestic violence. Domestic assaults represent a larger proportion of female violence than male violence. Mandatory arrest laws for domestic incidents, coupled with an increased willingness of citizens to report these incidents to authorities and of law enforcement to intervene, would yield a greater increase in female than male arrests for assault, while having no effect on robbery. Thus, policy and social changes may have driven the consistent increase in the female proportion of juvenile violent crime arrests over the last two decades—a period when overall juvenile violence first increased then declined.

When male and female juvenile arrest rate trends move together (increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same), the factors behind the overall juvenile arrest rate trends appear to have no unique, gender-specific component. One offense for which this was true over the last two decades (i.e., an offense for which the female proportion held constant) was running away from home.

Other arrest trends imply that gender-specific factors were at work. From 1980 through 1999, female arrest percentages increased for most offenses, including assault, larceny-theft, vandalism, weapons law violations, liquor law violations, and curfew and loitering law violations. The female proportion of juvenile arrests for drug abuse violations declined from 1980 through the early 1990s and then increased through the remainder of the 1990s. The only other offense for which the female proportion of juvenile arrests dropped during the 1980s and 1990s was prostitution, falling from near 70% in the early 1980s to below 50% in the mid-1990s.

Between 1980 and 1999, the female proportion of juvenile arrests increased for simple assault, vandalism, weapons, liquor law violations, and curfew and loitering law violations Although the raw numbers are relatively small, the female proportion of juvenile arrests for prostitution and commercialized vice did drop substantially between 1980 and 1999. Across the period, females represented the majority of juveniles arrested for running away from home. Data source: Analysis of the FBI’s Crime in the United States reports for the years 1980 through 1999 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981 through 2000, respectively).

Law Enforcement and Juvenile Crime	OJJDP National Report Series Bulletin December 2001