Table 28

Number of Offenses Cleared by Arrest or Exceptional Means
Percent of Clearances Involving Persons Under 18 Years of Age
by Population Group, 2009

Population group		Violent crime	Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter	Forcible rape	Robbery	Aggravated assault	Property crime	Burglary	Larceny- theft	Motor vehicle theft	Arson¹	Number of agencies	2009 estimated population
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Total clearances	458,914	7,631	27,748	85,688	337,847	1,337,882	209,717	1,051,693	76,472	9,241	13,350	469,703,487
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Percent under 18	11.0	4.8	11.4	14.9	10.1	17.2	15.1	17.7	14.7	34.7
TOTAL CITIES	Total clearances	353,891	5,761	20,081	74,119	253,930	1,072,255	149,197	866,803	56,255	6,634	9,833	391,965,135
TOTAL CITIES	Percent under 18	11.2	5.1	10.6	15.0	10.2	17.8	15.8	18.3	15.1	37.2
GROUP I (250,000 and over)	Total clearances	133,484	2,716	7,293	33,422	90,053	260,657	41,475	199,217	19,965	1,958	66	41,773,817
GROUP I (250,000 and over)	Percent under 18	9.9	5.2	7.9	14.1	8.7	16.0	16.0	16.2	14.3	31.3
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset)	Total clearances	44,195	1,020	2,405	12,802	27,968	76,932	10,881	59,735	6,316	523	8	14,623,806
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset)	Percent under 18	8.8	4.2	7.2	12.3	7.5	13.6	13.5	13.8	11.1	27.5
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset)	Total clearances	46,928	847	2,412	10,229	33,440	94,218	15,269	71,910	7,039	709	21	14,228,341
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset)	Percent under 18	10.3	5.7	8.1	15.2	9.1	16.3	18.4	15.9	16.2	32.0
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset)	Total clearances	42,361	849	2,476	10,391	28,645	89,507	15,325	67,572	6,610	726	37	12,921,670
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset)	Percent under 18	10.7	5.8	8.2	15.4	9.3	17.8	15.4	18.6	15.3	33.2
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999)	Total clearances	60,059	978	3,220	13,430	42,431	174,640	25,039	140,362	9,239	1,011	172	253,899,946
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999)	Percent under 18	11.8	6.0	11.4	17.3	10.2	20.1	17.2	20.8	16.9	34.0
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999)	Total clearances	52,003	751	2,850	10,365	38,037	179,396	23,599	147,759	8,038	1,045	399	27,309,526
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999)	Percent under 18	12.1	4.7	11.5	15.8	11.3	20.0	15.4	20.9	16.2	39.6
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999)	Total clearances	37,450	504	2,180	7,193	27,573	157,773	18,070	133,817	5,886	844	697	23,975,054
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999)	Percent under 18	12.2	4.2	12.5	15.9	11.4	18.9	15.7	19.5	16.2	43.6
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999)	Total clearances	37,386	446	2,379	5,963	28,598	162,988	21,228	135,001	6,759	882	1,512	23,868,699
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999)	Percent under 18	11.8	4.9	12.6	12.9	11.6	17.0	15.1	17.4	13.7	43.8
GROUP VI (under 10,000)	Total clearances	33,509	366	2,159	3,746	27,238	136,801	19,786	110,647	6,368	894	6,987	21,138,093
GROUP VI (under 10,000)	Percent under 18	11.7	4.1	13.1	13.4	11.5	15.2	15.2	15.3	14.2	38.8
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Total clearances	77,647	1,247	5,131	10,021	61,248	200,481	40,723	145,232	14,526	1,801	1,411	54,109,000
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Percent under 18	11.5	5.1	13.6	15.5	10.7	15.1	14.0	15.6	13.9	32.0
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Total clearances	27,376	623	2,536	1,548	22,669	65,146	19,797	39,658	5,691	806	2,106	23,629,352
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Percent under 18	7.6	2.4	14.0	6.5	7.1	12.6	11.8	13.1	12.4	20.0
SUBURBAN AREAS²	Total clearances	142,078	1,938	8,976	21,027	110,137	478,877	75,659	376,769	26,449	3,402	6,981	102,471,266
SUBURBAN AREAS²	Percent under 18	12.2	4.9	13.6	15.4	11.6	16.4	14.7	16.9	14.0	38.6

¹ Not all agencies submit reports for arson to the FBI. As a result, the number of reports the FBI uses to compute the percent of offenses cleared for arson is less than the number it uses to compute the percent of offenses cleared for all other offenses.
² Suburban areas include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and county law enforcement agencies that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Suburban areas exclude all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city. The agencies associated with suburban areas also appear in other groups within this table.

Data Declaration

Provides the methodology used in constructing this table and other pertinent information about this table.

Overview

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Eleven (11.0) percent of clearances for violent crime offenses involved only juveniles (individuals under age 18); 17.2 percent of clearances for property crime offenses nationwide involved only juveniles in 2009.
Of the six city population groups, cities with 25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants had the highest percentage (12.2 percent) of clearances for violent crime involving only juveniles. Cities with 250,000 or more inhabitants had the lowest percentage of clearances for violent crimes involving only juveniles (9.9 percent).
For property crime, 20.1 percent of reported clearances in cities with populations of 100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants involved only juveniles, the highest percentage of the six city population groups. The lowest percentage, 15.2 percent, was reported in cities with less than 10,000 inhabitants.
In the Nation’s metropolitan counties, juveniles were the sole offenders in 11.5 percent of clearances for violent crimes and 15.1 percent of clearances for property crimes. In the Nation’s nonmetropolitan counties, 7.6 percent of clearances for violent crimes and 12.6 percent of clearances for property crimes involved only juveniles.
Arson had the highest percentage of clearances involving only juveniles—34.7 percent—nationally in 2009.