Kids Count Data Center

Definitions: The number of arrests for drug and alcohol offenses by youth under age 18. Juvenile drug offenses include sale or possession of: opium and cocaine and their derivatives, marijuana, synthetic narcotics, and other dangerous non-narcotic drugs. Alcohol offenses include driving under the influence and violating liquor laws (liquor law violations include transgression of any state or local liquor law). Rates represent number of juvenile arrests per 1,000 juvenile population ages 10 through 17.

Data Source:

Data for this measure come from the Washington State Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee (GJJAC) Juvenile Justice Reports. The report notes that GJJAC obtained these arrest data from Washington Uniform Crime Reporting (WUCR) program of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

Data are available online at http://www.dshs.wa.gov/ojj/annual_report.shtml

S: Data estimate has been suppressed. Data are suppressed when annual number of arrests was 10 or fewer.

Footnotes: Data last updated in February 2012 by Washington KIDS COUNT.

Rates are based on the population of juveniles age 10 through 17. However, actual juvenile arrest counts (numerator) include children under 10. The number of arrests does not represent every juvenile arrest made during the year, but reflects the information that was reported by the reported agencies. Therefore, underreporting is likely. The GJJAC report also mentions that major under-reporting by law enforcement is observed in Spokane. Therefore, the actual number of arrests for Spokane county is greater than the total reported by law enforcement.