The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reports that in 2006 alone, law enforcement officers made an estimated 2.2 million arrests of people under the age of 18. The report also shows that juveniles accounted for 17% of all violent crimes and 26% of all property crimes in 2006. These numbers are staggering yet do not account for the youths who are exhibiting challenging behaviors that have not been arrested.
The data regarding juvenile substance abuse does little to ease concern. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 28.3% of kids between the ages of 12 and 20 reported drinking in the month prior to the survey and 12.4% reported having driven under the influence within the previous year. The data does suggest a decline in marijuana use, but 24.6% of tenth-graders reported use in the past year while 31.7% of twelfth-graders reported use. While marijuana use has seen a recent decline, the use of cocaine has remained stable among children 12 and older. A more troubling finding is the decline in perceived harmfulness of hallucinogenic drugs and an increase in the abuse of prescription drugs.
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