A simple phone call to parents is no longer a common punishment for young troublemakers when police catch them in the act, experts said.
Nearly one in three people will be arrested by the age of 23, according to a study published in the January 2012 edition of Pediatrics, a peer-reviewed national journal. When the study was published in 1967, researchers found 22 percent of young adults would be arrested by age 23. In the latest study, researchers concluded 30.2 percent of people will be arrested by age 23, said principal author of the study Robert Brame.
But Penn State U. professor of sociology and crime, law and justice John Kramer said the increase in arrests isn’t due to an increase in crime. In fact, the crime rate has substantially decreased in the last 15 years, Kramer said.
Rather, Kramer attributes the increase of youth arrests to a more formal legal system in the United States.
“Fifty percent of the time, we expected delinquent activity to just be reported to our parents,” Kramer said, referring to his generation’s interaction with police several decades ago.
Over the past 40 years, laws have also expanded, Kramer said, which contributes to the increased number of arrests. For example, motor vehicle laws and underage drinking laws are stricter now than ever before, Kramer said.
Brame, also a professor at U. North Carolina-Charlotte, echoed Kramer’s reasoning. He added that many more incidents will trigger law enforcement involvement today than in the past.
Strict “no tolerance” policies in schools also did not exist when the study was conducted more than 40 years ago, Brame said, which may have contributed to the increased number of arrests.
Because of the changing times, Brame said an updated study “needed to be done.”
Using data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics between 1997 and 2008, researchers analyzed individuals who were between the ages of 12 and 16 at the end of 1996, Brame said.
The same group was asked a variety of questions over the 11-year time period. One of the questions was if the individual has been arrested or taken into custody for something other than major traffic violations, Brame said.
To experts like Kramer and Brame, the results were not surprising.
Kramer said during criminology classes he instructs, he teaches his students the recent “broken window” movement of police — another reason why it may be more common for youth to be arrested.
The police mentality, he said, is that small things can become big things. More serious crimes can occur if police are lenient and do not report less serious offenses, he said.
Forty years ago, a crime such as vandalism may have resulted in just a phone call home. Police must now file the crime in the legal system to deter more serious crimes committed by the same person, Kramer said.
Through his more than 20 years experience as a Pittsburgh magisterial district judge and private attorney, Lou Coles said he has seen firsthand that low-level offenses are treated differently now than they were in the past.
Coles said on Friday and Saturday nights, it is very common for police to arrest people who drink alcohol on the streets or urinate in public. But decades ago, police would have just issued a citation, instead of making an arrest, Coles said.
One possible reason, Coles said, is the money each arrest brings the municipality.
“Crime is a gross business,” Coles said. “It keeps lawyers, judges and police in business.”