Juvenile Arrests in Chicago – Key Findings from Two New Reports
Over the past few months, Project NIA has been working on several reports about juvenile arrests in Chicago. In May, we released a second edition of our Policing Chicago Public Schools report that focused on data about school based arrests in 2011 & 2012.
Today, we are releasing two reports.
The first focuses on trends in Chicago juvenile arrests from 2009 to 2012. It was written by Ashley Cook, Zygmunt Czykieta, Paul Mack, and Chris Skrable (with contributions by Mariame Kaba). Ashley, Ziggy, Paul and Chris undertook this research as part of an Introduction to GIS course taught by Dr. Mike Stiehl at Loyola University this spring. You can download the report HERE.
The second report is an updated version of our Arresting Justice report that we published in 2011. The new report focuses on Chicago juvenile arrests in 2011 & 2012. You can download it HERE.
Below is a summary of the key findings from both reports. We hope that you find this data useful as you work to decrease young people’s contact with the police.
Juvenile Arrests in Chicago (2012) – Key Findings at a Glance… by Mariame Kaba, Project NIA
- According to the Chicago Police Department (CPD), there were 22,877 arrests of youth 17 and under in 2012 (some youth may be arrested more than once). This represents a nearly 27% decline in juvenile arrests since 2009. (Arresting Justice 2, 8/13)
- In 2012, black youth accounted for 79% of juvenile arrests in Chicago (Arresting Justice 2, 8/13)
- Expressed in per capita rates, in 2012, black youth were arrested 7.6 times per 100 youth, five times more frequently than Hispanic youth (1.5 arrests per 100 youth) and TEN times more frequently than white youth (0.7 arrests per 100 youth). (Cook, Czykieta, Mack, Skrable, & Kaba 8/13)
- For the first time, we present a district by district breakdown of percentages of specific racial populations compared to the percentage of arrests constituted by members of that racial group.
Racial Breakdown of Percentage of Youth & Arrests by District (2012)
|
District |
% Black Youth |
Black % of Youth Arrests |
% White Youth |
White % of Youth Arrests |
% Hispanic Youth |
Hispanic % of Youth Arrests |
| 1 |
32.70% |
89.50% |
35.10% |
2.50% |
9.01% |
6.84% |
| 2 |
81.60% |
96.90% |
8.25% |
0.68% |
3.48% |
1.45% |
| 3 |
94.40% |
99.30% |
1.10% |
0.30% |
2.05% |
0.22% |
| 4 |
59.90% |
86.10% |
3.28% |
1.22% |
35.40% |
12.10% |
| 5 |
95% |
98.90% |
0.32% |
0.31% |
3.95% |
0.77% |
| 6 |
97.10% |
99.50% |
0.19% |
0.08% |
1.51% |
0.15% |
| 7 |
96.70% |
99.90% |
0.14% |
0.07% |
1.92% |
0.07% |
| 8 |
19.90% |
59.60% |
9.23% |
4.83% |
69.40% |
35.20% |
| 9 |
12.80% |
52.90% |
6.63% |
6.12% |
69.50% |
40.50% |
| 10 |
29.50% |
61.60% |
0.92% |
1.05% |
69.10% |
37.10% |
| 11 |
84.80% |
98.10% |
0.93% |
0.22% |
12.90% |
1.49% |
| 12 |
23.30% |
52% |
11.30% |
1.57% |
59.40% |
46.30% |
| 13 |
25.10% |
70.50% |
24.50% |
3.41% |
36.50% |
26.10% |
| 14 |
10.60% |
35.10% |
18.90% |
6.44% |
66.50% |
57.80% |
| 15 |
93% |
99.50% |
0.71% |
0.14% |
4.93% |
0.41% |
| 16 |
1.10% |
17.50% |
55.40% |
39.50% |
35.10% |
40.80% |
| 17 |
3.48% |
28% |
25.80% |
13.10% |
57.70% |
57.30% |
| 18 |
21.10% |
91.50% |
60.10% |
2.58% |
7.01% |
4.94% |
| 19 |
11.80% |
60.50% |
61.70% |
14.80% |
16.30% |
23.50% |
| 20 |
12.90% |
69.80% |
34.80% |
0% |
32.20% |
29.40% |
| 22 |
60.50% |
95% |
32.40% |
3.61% |
5.19% |
1.29% |
| 24 |
20.40% |
70.70% |
27.20% |
4.41% |
32.10% |
22.50% |
| 25 |
15.40% |
46.80% |
6.07% |
4% |
76.50% |
48.80% |
Black youth are arrested in greater proportion than their populations represent throughout the entire city. Hispanic youth are arrested in greater proportions in a few districts on the Northside and white youth are arrested in smaller proportions than their population throughout the entire city. (Cook, Czykieta, Mack, Skrable, & Kaba, 8/13)
5. In Chicago, boys/young men were 84% of juvenile arrests in 2012 (Arresting Justice 2, 8/13).
6. More juvenile arrests in Chicago were for misdemeanor offenses (74%) in 2012 (Arresting Justice 2, 8/13).
7. In 2012, most of the juvenile arrests (64.5%) in Chicago were concentrated in 10 districts. In order of most arrests, these districts are 8, 11, 7, 15, 4, 3, 6, 5, 9, and 10 (Arresting Justice 2, 8/13).
8. There were 1,080 formal and 6,149 informal stations adjustments[1] reported by the Chicago Police Department in 2012 (Arresting Justice 2, 8/13)
Sources:
Kaba, Mariame (2013) Arresting Justice (Second Edition): Juvenile Arrests in Chicago, 2011 and 2012.
Cook, Czykieta, Mack, Skrable & Kaba (2013) Trends in Chicago Juvenile Arrests, 2009-2012.
[1] As an alternative to referring the case to Juvenile Court, a youth officer may release a young person from custody with a station adjustment. There are two types of station adjustments: informal and formal. A youth officer may give an informal station adjustment if he/she decides there is probable cause to believe the juvenile committed an offense. A formal station adjustment is different in that a juvenile must also admit involvement in the alleged offense. The juvenile’s admission can later be used as evidence against him/her if they violate the terms of the formal adjustment and his case is referred to court.
Although they are not convictions, station adjustments usually appear in a juvenile’s arrest history. All formal station adjustments must be recorded with the Illinois State Police. Informal station adjustments for felonies must also be recorded with the Illinois State Police, and informal station adjustments for misdemeanors may be recorded. Station adjustments can be expunged from a juvenile’s record.
Chicago Youth Justice Data Project 
August 6, 2013 at 10:28 am
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