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Juveniles in Court
Delinquency Cases
Q: Does the trend in delinquency cases vary across offenses?
A: Caseloads declined for all offenses categories since the late-2000s, but the relative decline was greater for property and public order offenses.
It is important to note that 2020 was the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have impacted policies, procedures, and data collection activities regarding referrals to and processing of youth by juvenile courts. Additionally, stay-at-home orders and school closures likely impacted the volume and type of law-violating behavior by youth referred to juvenile court in 2020.

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  • In 2020, the total number of delinquency cases handled by juvenile courts was 56% less than the number handled in 1985, and 38% below the number of cases handled in 2016.
  • Caseloads declined for all offenses categories since the late-2000s, but the relative decline was greater for property and public order offenses. Since 2008, the number of property offense cases fell 73%, public order cases fell 72%, drug offense cases fell 67%, and person offense cases fell 55%.
  • Compared with 1985, the 2020 delinquency caseload contained greater proportions of person (35% versus 16%), drugs (11% versus 7%), and public order (23% versus 17%) offense cases and a smaller proportion of property (32% versus 61%) offense cases.
Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/court/qa06205.asp?qaDate=2020. Released on January 10, 2023.

Adapted from Easy Access to Juvenile Court Statistics. Available on-line at: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezajcs/.

Data Source: National Juvenile Court Data Archive. National Center for Juvenile Justice. Pittsburgh, PA.

 

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