JUVENILE SUSTAINED PETITIONS

This indicator reports number and percent of juvenile petitions that are sustained. After a juvenile arrest, a referral is typically made by the arresting officer to the Probation Department for further processing. The probation officer decides whether a referral is dismissed, the juvenile is placed on informal probation or a petition will be sought for a formal court hearing. When a petition is sustained by the court, the juvenile becomes a ward of the court. A ward is either allowed to go home under the supervision of a probation officer or ordered for detention in a juvenile institution.

Sustained juvenile petitions are similar to an adult criminal conviction. They indicate where and what types of crimes are occurring among youth. Many agencies have a role to play in helping to meet California’s goal of rehabilitation for youth who have a sustained petition, including schools, social services agencies and community-based organizations. Knowledge of sustained juvenile petitions can help provide strategic direction to prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation efforts in Orange County.

• In 2015, there were 1,719 juvenile sustained petitions, a 35.3% decrease from 2013 (2,657).

• The rate of sustained petitions was 492.4 per 100,000 youth ages 10 to 17 years old in 2015, a 36.8% decrease from 2013 (800 per 100,000 youth) and 51.7% decrease from 2003 (1,048 per 100,000 youth).

• Sustained petitions were highest among youth 15 to 17 years old who comprised 88.9% of total sustained petitions, followed by youth 12 to 14 years old (10.9%) and youth 11 years and younger (0.1%).

• When assessed by race and ethnicity, Hispanic youth (79.3%) had the most sustained petitions, followed by White (11.5%), Black (4.0%), Asian (3.6%) and Other (1.6%) youth in 2015.

• Across genders, the vast majority of sustained petitions were on juvenile males (85.9%), with juvenile females accounting for 14.1% of sustained petitions in 2015.

Percent of Juvenile Arrests with a Sustained Petition, Youth 10 to 17 Years Old, by Age, 2015 by Race/Ethnicity, 2013 to 2015

Juvenile Sustained Petitions, Rate per 100,000, Youth 10 to 17 years old, by City,