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Juvenile Arrest Comparison

Lincoln’s juvenile arrest rates for drug violations and property crimes were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
Lower juvenile arrests for drug violations and property crimes were observed in 2020. This is likely related to less time spent outside of the home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Juvenile arrests for violent crimes have always been lower in Lincoln than national arrest rates and remained low in 2020.

  • Lincoln’s juvenile drug arrest rate was previously lower than the national rate but has been increasing in the past decade (since 2010) and in 2019 was 48% higher than the national rate.
    • In 2020, it was substantially lower, sitting at 3% lower than the national average.
  • Although the juvenile property crime arrest rate has been decreasing nationally,2 Lincoln has experienced an increase in juvenile property crime arrest rates.3 The Lincoln juvenile property crime arrest rate was 91% higher than the national rate in 2019, though decreased to just 29% higher than the national rate in 2020.
  • Lincoln’s juvenile violent crime arrest rates have been on average 68% lower than the national rate in the decade from 2010 to 2020.
Notes

Juvenile Arrest Rates (JAR); national data from U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; local data from Nebraska Crime Commission.

ACS 1-year estimates for population data for Lancaster County is not available for 2020. Instead, the ACS 5-year estimate was used for this calculation.

Local data is for Lancaster County.

National data on juvenile arrests was revised in 2022 and past years have been updated in the figure to reflect this. This data is not available past 2020.

Footnotes
  1. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (July 2022). Law Enforcement & Youth Crime. Statistical Briefing Book. U.S. Department of Justice.
  2. Although juvenile arrest rates may largely reflect juvenile behavior, many other factors can affect the magnitude of these rates, such as the attitudes of citizens toward crime, the policies of local law enforcement agencies, and the policies of other components of the justice system.