BEH5 Youth perpetrators of serious violent crimes: Rate and number of serious violent crimes by youth ages 12–17, 1993–2021

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Characteristic 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006a 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020b 2021
Rate per 1,000 youth ages 12–17
Total 44.9 47.2 37.1 33.6 30.7 24.3 23.6 16.0 18.3 9.6 15.9 13.1 16.7 14.3 9.6 13.7 9.8 7.4 5.3 8.2 8.6 5.4 7.5 * 8.5 7.5 5.2 4.0 4.9
Number of serious violent crimes
Total (in millions) 4.2 4.2 3.5 3.3 3.0 2.8 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.7 1.8 1.6 1.8 2.3 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.3 1.6 1.6 1.4 1.4 1.3 * 1.5 1.7 1.6 1.3 1.3
Number involving youth ages 12–17 (in thousands) 983 1,058 849 780 723 576 564 385 443 239 400 330 423 365 243 343 241 180 128 206 214 135 187 * 211 187 130 100 123
Percentage involving youth ages 12–17 23.6 25.1 24.3 23.9 23.8 20.7 22.3 17.6 22.0 14.2 21.8 20.0 23.2 16.1 15.1 22.4 16.5 13.8 8.2 12.7 15.3 9.4 14.0 * 13.9 11.2 8.0 7.5 9.7
Percentage of juvenile crimes involving multiple offenders 50.6 54.4 56.0 52.1 53.4 50.6 43.7 56.5 43.1 52.7 59.7 38.7 49.2 33.1 48.1 41.9 50.0 46.8 49.1 51.3 43.9 43.3 44.0 * 45.5 34.6 21.3 52.9 48.7
*Due to a sample increase and redesign in 2016, victimization estimates among youth in 2016 are not comparable with estimates for other years.
a Due to methodological changes in the 2006 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), use caution when comparing 2006 criminal perpetration estimates to those for other years. See Criminal Victimization, 2007, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv06.pdf, for more information.
b The 2020 NCVS weights include an additional adjustment to address the impact of modified field operations due to COVID-19. For more information on the weighting adjustments applied in 2020, see the Source and Accuracy Statement for the 2020 National Crime Victimization Survey in the NCVS 2020 Codebook (https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACJD/series/95) and Criminal Victimization, 2020 (NCJ 301775, BJS, October 2021).
NOTE: The rate is the ratio of the number of crimes (aggravated assault; rape; and robbery, i.e., stealing by force or threat of violence) reported to the NCVS that involved at least one offender perceived by the victim to be 12–17 years of age, plus the number of homicides reported to the police that involved at least one juvenile offender, to the number of juveniles in the population. Beginning in 2021, the number of homicides was estimated using the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System. From 1993–2020, the number of homicides were estimated using the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports. In 2020, historical estimates were revised since previous publication in America's Children due to changes in the methodology for calculating offender totals for youth and revisions to homicide numbers.
SOURCE: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey and Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, National Incident-Based Reporting System.