JUVENILE CRIME  IN SAN MATEO COUNTY  1991 REPORT

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Age

According to Department of Finance estimates, the number of children (ages one day through 17 years) in San Mateo County increased to 142,755 in 1991.  While the estimated population growth was less than 2%, arrests of children increased by 7.5%.

The approximate average age of an arrested child in 1991 was 14.8 years, almost unchanged from 14.9 years in 1990.  The approximate average age of a child arrested for a felony in 1991 was 14.9 years, compared to 15.1 years in 1990 and 15.2 years in 1989.   This year, then, marks the third straight year that the average age of juvenile felony arrests has decreased slightly.  For misdemeanors, the average age also decreased, from 14.8 in 1990 to 14.4 in 1991.  For status offenders, the average age rose to 15.1 years, up from 14.6 in 1990.

As in past years, older children are more likely to be arrested than younger children.   Because census data for the population of specific age groups is not available for 1991, the arrest rate cannot be accurately determined for each age group.  However, arrest data can be broken down into the following age categories: 0-11 years, 12-13 years, 14-15 years, and 16-17 years.  Arrest data from 1991 indicates that children from the 12-13 year category and the 14-15 year category accounted for larger portions of juvenile arrests than in previous years.  This trend is most marked in the category of felony arrests.  Although no age group accounted for as many felony arrests as the 16 to 17 year-olds, all younger age groups accounted for a higher portion of felony arrests than in 1990. (See table.)
 

Table 2 (Bureau of Criminal Statistics)

The total number of arrests has increased for each age category since 1990; however, arrests in the three youngest age categories were marked by more significant increases than older age brackets.  Table 3 details the changes in total arrests by age category.
 

Table 3 (Bureau of Criminal Statistics)

Despite the general decrease in age of arrested children, certain long-term trends remain true: arrests for felonies and misdemeanors increased with age.  Status offenders were concentrated among the 14 and 15 year-olds, who represent the smallest portion of the juvenile population.  This peak was most dramatic for the runaway category.  With 203 runaways, the 14 to 15 year-old group accounted for nearly one half of all runaway.

Gender

The increase in arrests for females in 1991 was 6.7%, quite consistent with the 7.5% increase in overall arrests.  Females constituted 25.5.% of juvenile arrests in 1991, nearly unchanged from 25.7% in 1990.  Females made up 48.5% of San Mateo County's youth population in 1991.  The total number of female arrests increased from 1,116 in 1990 to 1,191 in 1991; violations increased in all categories except status offenses.   Nonetheless, females continue to account for the majority of status offenders, with 208 out of a total 407.  Females accounted for 129 out of 203 arrest in the runaway category alone.  Tables 4 and 5 compare 1990 and 1991 juvenile arrest statistics by gender.

Female Juvenile Arrests, San Mateo County, 1991 and 1990

Table 4 (Bureau of Criminal Statistics)

Male Juvenile Arrests, San Mateo County, 1991 and 1990

Table 5 (Bureau of Criminal Statistics)

Ethnic Background

School enrollment data highlights the changing composition of San Mateo County's youth population.  Enrollment of Latino students (up 1.36%), Filipino students (up 0.10%), and Native American students (up 0.07%) continued to increase in 1991, as it has for several years.  Enrollment of African-American students (down 0.17%) and white students (down 1.33%) continued to drop in 1991.  Reversing a previous trend, enrollment of Asian and Pacific Islander students decreased slightly, by 0.02% and 0.01%, respectively.

Figure El shows the Office of Education's enrollment by ethnicity.  Not included in these ethnic demographic statistics are 14,000 San Mateo County private school children and high school dropouts.  However, Census data from 1990 indicates that the Office of Education's enrollment statistics differ from population statistics by less than 1% in the case of each ethnic group. (Neither the Census Bureau nor the Department of Finance provides population statistics by ethnicity for 1991.)

Comparisons between Figure El and Figure E2, which details juvenile arrests by ethnicity, reveal little correlation between the ethnic composition of juvenile arrestees and the ethnic composition of the entire San Mateo County juvenile population.

Information on juvenile arrests indicates that African-American children are over-represented in the San Mateo County juvenile justice system and that the disparity has continued over a long period.  In 1991, African-American children constituted 7.32% of the juvenile population of San Mateo County, yet 20.0% of all juvenile arrests were of African-Americans.  The 1991 arrest rate for African-American children in San Mateo County was 86.6 per one-thousand, whereas the arrest rate for children of every other race and ethnicity was only 28.3 per one thousand.

The percentage of Latino children arrested was comparable to the percentage of Latino children in the juvenile population, at 27.0% and 26.14%, respectively.  The percentage of juvenile arrestees who were white was far below white children's proportion of the juvenile population at large.

A comparison of the changes in juvenile crime between 1990 and 1991 suggests these trends could be changing.  Arrests of African-American children were up only marginally, whereas other ethnic groups showed significant increases.  The most marked ethnic change in arrest patterns was a 30.3% increase of arrests of those juveniles classified as "other." This change could perhaps be due to an increase or demographic change in the juvenile population not classified as white, Latino, or African-American.
 

Percentage Change in Juvenile Arrests between 1990 and 1991 
 by Ethnicity and Severity 

Table 6 (Bureau of Criminal Statistics)

Gang Membership

Some San Mateo County juvenile police officers reported arrests of children whom police believe to be affiliated with gangs.  There were few reports of organized crime activity by gangs; however, some suspected gang members were charged with conspiracy in addition to other criminal offenses, which if proved, increased the potential penalties for the child.  The charge of conspiracy implies that gang members previously met and decided to commit a crime.

The Criminal Justice Council is currently creating a task force to investigate the impact of gangs on juvenile crime; this task force will focus on the relation between arrests and gang membership in San Mateo County.
 
Geography

Figures on the permanent residences of arrested juveniles are not available; however, the Probation Department compiles residence statistics on the juveniles under its supervision.   Most towns have probation rates of one percent or less, but a few towns have higher rates.  Daly City and the combined area of Atherton, Menlo Park, and Portola Valley have probation rates slightly higher than 1%.  The data for Redwood City and Woodside cannot be separated and the combined area has a probation rate of 1.7%. East Palo Alto has by far the highest percentage of juveniles on probation, at 3.4%. The county average is 1.2%.
 

The percentages of children under probationary supervision in 1991 are listed by town in Table 5. These percentages are based on 1991 arrest statistics and juvenile population figures from the 1990 census.  Unfortunately, no information on juvenile population by city is available for 1991.  In Table 5, some towns, such as Atherton, Menlo Park, and Portola Valley, are combined because probationary statistics are sorted by zip code.  Thus, the probation rates listed may not accurately reflect the rate for cities within each group.

Punishment and Rehabilitation

Despite the increase in juvenile arrests, locked facility admissions decreased 0.7% in 1991.  In San Mateo County, a total of 4,187 children were admitted to Juvenile Hall in 1991, down from 4,206 in 1990.  The average daily population of Juvenile Hall increased 6.9% from 131 in 1990 to 139 in 1991.  At Camp Glenwood, 122 commitments were made in 1991, compared to 130 in

1990.  In 1991, 34 children were new commitments to the California Youth Authority, down from 39 in 1990.  In 1991, 16 children were sent to VisionQuest, down from 22 in 1990.  VisionQuest is an outdoor rehabilitation program in Arizona, designed an alternative for children who would otherwise be sent to the California Youth Authority.  In 1991 Hillcrest also referred twelve juveniles to the Arizona Boys Ranch, a similar alternative rehabilitation program.

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