Statistics on youth arrests for status offenses from the California Office of the Attorney General are now available on RaceCounts.org. Calculated averages from the years 2011-17, speak to the over-criminalization of our youth, particularly youth of color in the state.
Performance: San Francisco County had the lowest average rate of arrests for status offenses between 2011 and 2017. On average less than one in 10,000 county youth (.58) was arrested for a status offense, compared to 13.0 out of every 10,000 youth statewide. Glenn County had the highest average rate, where 81.7 out of every 10,000 youth were arrested for status offenses annually.
Disparity: San Mateo produced the most racially disparate outcomes for status offense arrests. Black youth were 13 times more likely to be arrested than White youth. Latino/a youth were also disproportionately impacted, they were 6.5 times likelier to be arrested than White youth.
Impact: On average roughly 12,000 youth were arrested for status offenses each year between 2011 and 2017. Nearly two out of three of these youth were Latino/a. Latino/as comprise 52% of youth overall. Note: we’ve correspondingly removed the less all-encompassing truancy and curfew indicators. Click here for data.