Kids are more violent today?  Even though a schoolyard fistfight 
that would have gotten a lecture in 1975 now brings an aggravated 
assault arrest, teenage violent crime arrests today are no higher 
than among their baby boom parents. By the way, the aforesaid 
baby boom parents are the ones showing skyrocketing violent 
crime arrests as police start taking domestic violence (the leading 
killer of women and children) more seriously. Want to reduce 
“youth violence”?   The 5-fold greater arrest rate among black 
than among white youth argues the best way is to attack racism 
and youth poverty.


CALIFORNIA YOUTH VIOLENT CRIME ARRESTS, 1967-2001
					
Violent felony* arrests, raw numbers, age 10-17					
Year	Total	White	Hisp	Black	Asian/oth
1965					
66					
67	6,268				
68	7,869				
69	8,883				
1970	9,447				
71	11,119				
72	13,610				
73	15,249				
74	17,030				
1975	17,742	6,035	4,110	7,149	448
76	16,399	5,623	4,490	5,879	407
77	16,114	5,093	5,003	5,653	365
78	15,511	4,875	4,896	5,384	356
79	16,839	5,137	5,420	5,854	428
1980	16,940	4,533	5,058	6,886	463
81	16,319	4,227	4,931	6,676	485
82	14,107	3,796	4,095	5,729	487
83	12,136	3,361	3,325	4,995	455
84	11,674	3,425	3,085	4,670	494
1985	12,263	3,568	3,337	4,761	597
86	12,364	3,372	3,483	4,737	772
87	12,195	2,962	3,726	4,830	677
88	13,886	3,039	4,719	5,239	889
89	17,325	3,311	6,837	6,127	1,050
1990	20,658	3,782	8,278	6,884	1,714
91	21,158	4,256	9,059	6,485	1,358
92	21,549	4,395	9,281	6,331	1,542
93	21,590	4,443	8,907	6,593	1,647
94	22,601	4,646	9,197	6,926	1,832
1995	21,891	4,709	9,292	6,163	1,727
96	22,088	4,935	9,364	5,989	1,800
97	21,002	4,874	8,804	5,696	1,628
98	19,636	4,594	8,286	5,102	1,654
99	18,867	4,924	7,536	4,894	1,513
2000	16,610	4,268	6,587	4,497	1,258				
01	17,568	4,637	6,921	4,779	1,231
					
Violent crime* rate, arrests per 100,000 population age 10-17					
Year	Total	White	Hisp	Black	Asian/oth
1965					
66					
67	215.7				
68	264.4				
69	292.2				
1970	310.6				
71	356.1				
72	429.2				
73	475.6				
74	528.4				
1975	551.0	286.8	614.3	2526.1	273.2
76	514.2	275.4	649.8	2055.6	239.4
77	511.6	257.0	708.6	1969.7	208.6
78	500.4	254.0	682.8	1882.5	200.0
79	551.4	276.2	745.5	2046.9	236.5
1980	555.6	248.7	675.3	2391.0	245.0
81	525.1	237.1	594.1	2359.0	228.8
82	453.6	221.9	458.6	2083.3	210.8
83	390.1	204.8	348.5	1870.8	182.7
84	377.1	217.6	308.8	1810.1	186.4
1985	394.8	233.4	320.9	1874.4	211.0
86	396.7	225.7	325.2	1879.8	257.3
87	391.5	202.5	343.1	1924.3	214.9
88	448.7	212.1	433.7	2112.5	272.7
89	561.6	233.5	631.3	2470.6	312.5
1990	655.6	262.1	750.5	2710.2	488.3
91	657.7	289.3	808.8	2484.7	372.1
92	654.4	292.4	811.3	2371.2	406.9
93	642.9	290.4	763.9	2441.9	420.2
94	660.5	298.6	774.2	2537.0	452.3
1995	627.6	297.8	766.0	2233.0	413.2
96	618.5	306.9	750.9	2123.8	414.7
97	571.5	297.2	676.7	1991.6	363.4
98	521.4	276.1	614.2	1759.3	357.2
99	489.2	291.8	539.0	1660.1	317.5
2000	411.5	271.4	390.5	1453.0	268.8				
01	423.1	295.2	387.2	1511.1	257.4

					
Rate change, 2000-01 vs 1970s
	-12%	+5%	-43%	-29%	+14%
					
*Murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.					
Source:  Criminal Justice Statistics Center, Crime & Delinquency in
California, and Criminal Justice Statistics Profile, Statewide, 1975-2001.
Sacramento: California Department of Justice.