Youth are substantially more likely to be robbed or have property stolen than adults.
- For 2000, robbery rates were 6per 1,000 for juveniles and 3 per 1,000 for adults, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey.
- For the same period, larceny (theft) rates were 105 per 1,000 for juveniles and 67 per 1,000 for adults.
School is the most common location for juvenile property victimizations.
- In 2000, 54% of juvenile property victimizations happened at or on the way to and from school.
- The next most risky place was a juvenile's home, which saw only 14% of property victimizations.
CCRC data analysis using NCVS 2000.
Juvenile property crimes are different from adult property crimes.
- Juveniles are much more likely than adults to have bicycles, clothing, collections and electronic gear stolen.
- Many items reported as stolen from adults are communal property such as TV's, appliances, and autos, whose loss impacts juveniles as well as adults in a household.
- The majority (59%) of items stolen from juveniles are valued at under $50, while the majority (63%) of items taken from adults are worth more than $50.
Few juvenile property crime victimizations get reported to police.
- Only 13% of all juvenile property victimizations get reported.
- Reporting can improve the chances of recovering stolen items: 26% of juvenile property victimizations reported to police had items recovered versus only 14% of incidents not reported.
Property crime rates are declining.
- Property crime rates for both juveniles and adults dropped 20-25% between 1993 and 1997.
Finkelhor, D. and Ormrod, R. (2000). Juvenile Victims of Property Crimes. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
