What does this measure?
The number of arrests of youth ages 12-24 arrested for Group A offenses, expressed per 10,000 youth. Group A offenses include assault, theft, vandalism, homicide, sexual offenses and weapons violations.
Why is this important?
Youth arrests serve to remove offenders that may cause harm to other youth or the community. However, the likelihood of not completing high school or being incarcerated as an adult is higher for people arrested as youths, and can be affected by their age at the time of first arrest, frequency of subsequent arrests and incarceration. Interaction with the justice system at a young age may also cause a youth to be labeled in the community, reducing opportunities for future work and higher education.
How is our county doing?
In 2017, there were more than 6,600 youth arrests in Essex County, for a rate of 85 per 10,000. This was similar to the state rate in 2017. Though the rate fluctuated a bit since 2007 there was no sustained trend and the 2017 rate was lower than the rate in 2007. Within Essex County, Salisbury and Haverhill had the highest rate (at 217 and 192 per 10,000 youths respectively), followed by Gloucester (154) in 2017.
How do we compare to other counties?
Essex County's rate was higher than that in Middlesex, MA of 61 per 10,000 in 2017.
Notes on the data
Comparable data was not available for Lake, IL and Westchester, NY.