11 Notable Facts from the Division of Juvenile Justice’s 2024 Annual Report
- Eric Zogry
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Every year the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention publishes an annual report, documenting the challenges and achievements of the past year, and containing a wealth of interesting and useful data. As I did last year, in this blog I’ll highlight ten pieces of information from the 2024 publication. All youth referred to are youth alleged to be delinquent; undisciplined youth are not included in these numbers. The graphics are from the actual report:
1. Map of facilities and services (page 2): This is a comprehensive bird’s eye view on DJJDP facilities in NC. New are Rockingham YDC (12 YDC/24 detention beds) and Perquimans Detention Center (24 beds)
2. Comprehensive strategy to address delinquency (page 6): A visual description of DJJDP’s philosophy of diversion first and graduated sanctions. Good information to remind the court about the purpose of the system.
3. Basic intake data (page 9): Note that about two thirds of intake cases come to court, and that complaints are filed on average not quite 3 per youth.
4. Complaints received and delinquency rate (page 10): Note that while complaints have increased since 2022, the delinquency rate has leveled off, which appears to indicate that, even with Raise the Age, the rate of offenses committed has steadied.
5. Complaints demographics (page 11): Note the variations in age, gender, and race.
6. School based offenses have dropped for the third straight year (page 12); RTA school-based offenses (page 14): A new trend is developing where school based offenses are steadily dropping, in part due to Raise the Age (16/17 year old's) youth having fewer school based complaints.
7. Gang associations have dropped for the fourth straight year (page 13): There is public and media concern about the rise in gang activity, but this data seems to contradict that narrative.
8. Top 10 juvenile offenses (page 13): Minor offenses continue to dominate this list, while possession of a handgun by a minor is on the rise.
9. Detention center admissions still on the rise from 2020 (page 15), as is average length of stay (except for youth under juvenile jurisdiction), (page 16):
10. YDC commitments have held steady for two years (page 18), average length of commitment has increased to 14.2 months from 12.4 months, (page 19), 97.7% of committed youth carried at least one mental health diagnosis (page 21):
11. Low educational levels for youth entering classrooms in facilities, sometimes as low as 3 to 4 grades behind (page 24): This is not new information, but a new way that DJJDP is displaying the data, that underscores the educational deficits of youth in the system.