The Nation : Juvenile Detention Rises

About 19% of all juvenile detentions in 1985 involved murder, rape, robbery or aggravated assault, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Statistics reported. The study found that more than 90% of the approximately 49,000 juveniles in public facilities as of Feb. 1, 1985, were accused of acts that would be criminal if committed by adults. The rest were runaways or in state care because they were neglected or abused. The report said that the number of juvenile detainees rose about 1% from 1983 until 1985, but the rate of confinement increased by 5%, to 185 of every 100,000 juveniles in the general population.