This report on delinquency cases in U.S. juvenile courts for 2017 covers counts and trends; the gender, race, and age of those processed; the number placed in secure detention at various times during case processing; intake decisions; adjudication and disposition; and waiver to criminal court.
In 2017, juvenile courts in the United States handled 818,900 delinquency cases involving juveniles charged with criminal law violations. Estimates are based on data from more than 2,500 courts with jurisdiction over 87 percent of the nation's juvenile population in 2017. Delinquency cases declined by 51 percent through 2017, continuing a downward trend since 2005, according to the fact sheet. Decreases occurred across all four offense categories: property, public order, person and drug law violation cases. The fact sheet is derived from the OJJDP-sponsored report, Juvenile Court Statistics 2017, and developed with support from the National Institute of Justice.