• The black-white disparity in arrest rates for forcible rape peaked in 1981, when the black rate was almost eight times the white rate. In 2010, the black rate was less than three times higher than the white rate.
• For white juveniles, the arrest rate for forcible rape nearly doubled between 1980 and 1991, when it reached its peak. Between 1991 and 2010 the rate declined 55%, reaching its lowest level since at least 1980.
• The trend in forcible rape arrests for black juveniles differed from the trend for whites. For black juveniles, the substantial decline in the arrest rate for forcible rape began in the late 1980s. The rate peaked in 1987 and then fell 75% by 2010. However, as with the rate for whites, the forcible rape arrest rate for black juveniles in 2010 was at its lowest level since at least 1980.
• The small number of arrests of American Indian and Asian juveniles for forcible rape make trends for these groups difficult to interpret. The Asian rate for forcible rape appears to have remained relatively constant during the 1980s and 1990s and far below the rates of the other races. The data for American Indians, however, shows large annual swings; this is attributable at least in part to the small number of arrests reported each year.

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Internet Citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available:
http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/JAR_Display.asp?ID=qa05263. December 17, 2012.

Adapted from Puzzanchera, C. and Adams, B. (2012). Juvenile Arrests 2009. Washington, D.C.: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

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