The notion of 'shift' is used as a symbol for procedure in criminal cases, understood as a sequence of legal interferences by the police, the prosecution and by proceedings in court. If this sequence is symbolized by a horizontal line, the procedural stages move from left to right. But the distribution of competencies has recently lost its prior balance as a consequence of modern crime and society. The functions of the judge appear reduced, whereas the range of action of the prosecution has widened; also, the police have gained more influence. On the symbolic line of procedural stages this all makes for a shift to the left. The paper examines whether juvenile justice is undergoing the same changes. The first answer is yes, based on the enlarged diversionary competence of prosecutors and the police. From a different perspective, however, juvenile offending is a natural phenomenon connected with young age, which a priori places juvenile justice on a left position on the imagined line. References