ABSTRACT
Juveniles (typically defined as those under 18) accounted for 15% of the arrests for forcible rape and 18% of the arrests for other sex crimes (excluding prostitution) in the United States in 2005 (UCR 2005). Consistent with overall trends in youth-perpetrated violence, juvenile sexual crime peaked in the early 1990s and has declined since that time (UCR). Statistics do show that juvenile arrests for forcible rape have decreased more dramatically than arrests for other sex offenses, and that in recent years there has been an increase in the number of juvenile females who have been arrested and brought before the court for sex crimes (excluding forcible rape; Snyder and Sickmund 2006). While the arrests of juvenile females for sex crimes has increased since the mid-1990s, it should be kept in perspective that juvenile females account for only about 2% of juvenile arrests for forcible rape and 9% of juvenile arrests for other sex offenses (Snyder and Sickmund). Hence, data continue to suggest that adolescent males account for the preponderance of cases of juvenile sexual offending.
