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Statistical Briefing Book

Youth in Court
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Description

Youth in Court

This section quantifies the processing of cases through juvenile court. It documents the nature of, and trends in, cases referred to juvenile court and the court's response, including the use of detention prior to disposition, cases judicially waived to criminal court, and cases ordered to residential placement. The case processing information is based on data collected through OJJDP’s National Juvenile Court Data Archive project.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) provide the latest answers to the most commonly asked questions about youth in juvenile court. Here you will learn about trends in the volume of delinquency and petitioned status offense cases handled by the nation’s juvenile courts, and case processing characteristics.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in March 2020, may have impacted the policies, procedures, and data collection activities regarding referrals to and processing of youth by juvenile courts for an indeterminate period of time. Additionally, stay-at-home orders and school closures likely impacted the volume and type of law-violating behavior by youth referred to juvenile court.

Delinquency Cases

Counts and Trends

  • How many delinquency cases are handled by juvenile courts? [Answer]  Updated
  • What are the characteristics of delinquency cases handled by juvenile courts? [Answer]  Updated
  • What proportion of delinquency cases are referred to juvenile court by law enforcement agencies? [Answer]  Updated
  • How has the delinquency caseload changed since the 1960s? [Answer]  Updated
  • Does the trend in delinquency cases vary across offenses? [Answer]  Updated

Delinquency Case Rates

  • Do delinquency case rates vary by age and offense? [Answer]  Updated
  • What are the delinquency case rate trends for certain offenses? [Answer]  Updated

Detention

  • Has the juvenile courts' use of detention in delinquency cases changed? [Answer]  Updated
  • Do trends in the number of detained cases vary by offense? [Answer]  Updated
  • Do trends in the use of detention vary by offense? [Answer]  Updated
  • Have trends in the number of detained cases varied by race? [Answer]  Updated

Manner of Handling

  • Has the juvenile courts' formal delinquency caseload grown? [Answer]  Updated
  • Has the juvenile courts' handling of delinquency cases changed? [Answer]  Updated

Disposition

  • Has there been an increase in the number of delinquency cases ordered to formal probation or residential placement? [Answer]  Updated
  • Have there been increases in the number of cases judicially waived to criminal court? [Answer]  Updated

Case Flow

  • How does the juvenile court process a typical delinquency case? [Answer]  Updated

Petitioned Status Offense Cases

Counts and Trends

  • How many petitioned status offense cases are handled by juvenile courts? [Answer]  Updated
  • Do the trends in the petitioned status offense cases vary by offense? [Answer]  Updated
  • What are the characteristics of petitioned status offense cases handled by juvenile courts? [Answer]  Updated
  • What proportion of petitioned status cases are referred to juvenile court by law enforcement? [Answer]  Updated

Petitioned Status Case Rates

  • What are the case rate trends for petitioned status offenses? [Answer]  Updated

Detention

  • Has the number of petitioned status offense cases involving detention changed? [Answer]  Updated
  • Do trends in the number of detained status cases vary by offense? [Answer]  Updated
  • Do trends in the use of detention vary by offense? [Answer]  Updated

Disposition

  • Has the sanctioning of petitioned status offense cases changed? [Answer]  Updated
  • What is the trend in dispostions for adjudicated status offense cases? [Answer]  Updated

 

Data Analysis Tools

With support from OJJDP, the National Center for Juvenile Justice has developed a family of data analysis and dissemination tools that give users quick and easy access to detailed statistics on a variety of juvenile justice topics. Two such applications provide access to juvenile court data:

  • Easy Access to Juvenile Court Statistics lets users access data on juvenile court processing of millions of delinquency cases, including information on the age, sex, and race of youth involved, the use of detention, adjudication and disposition. This data analysis tool also includes pre-formatted tables describing the demographic characteristics of youth involved in the juvenile justice system and how juvenile courts process these cases.
     
  • Easy Access to State and County Juvenile Court Case Counts gives users quick access to State and county juvenile court case counts for delinquency, status offense, and dependency cases.

Downloadable Spreadsheets:

The National Juvenile Court Data Archive houses the automated records of cases handled by courts with juvenile jurisdiction. The Archive was established by OJJDP to promote access to automated juvenile court data sets for juvenile justice research and policymaking efforts. The National Juvenile Court Data Archive Web site was developed to inform researchers about the available data sets and the procedures for use and access.

 

Date Created: June 1, 2023