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News Coverage of Youth Crime Increased While Youth Arrest Rate Fell

September 18, 2024

* Authors made equal contributions to this product and are listed in alphabetical order.

Child Trends’ analysis finds that, from 2019 to 2021, media coverage of youth crime increased, despite falling youth arrest rates. Scroll through the data story below to read more about how Child Trends combined FBI arrest data, U.S. Census data, and more than 5,800 news stories coded using AI to study the relationship between media attention and crime rates.



The Authors express their appreciation to all who contributed to this project. We extend special recognition to Kristen Harper for her invaluable expert advice and insights that were helped shape this work. We are thankful to Julie Gilbertson and Brent Franklin for their careful editing, and to the Child Trends communications team, especially Stephen Russ and Krystal Figueroa, for their outstanding design work and commitment to refining and disseminating our findings. We would like to thank MacKenzie Scott and Child Trends for funding this work and contributing the space, time, and additional resources that have contributed to our aim of improving the well-being of youth.


Suggested citation

Chan, K., Kelley, C., Kelley, S., Murphy, K., & Crockett, E. (2024). News coverage of youth crime increased while youth arrest rate fell. Child Trends. DOI: 10.56417/9490d4293l

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