U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Characteristics of Delinquency Cases Handled in Juvenile Court 2016

NCJ Number
252702
Date Published
October 2018
Length
1 page
Annotation

Data are provided on the characteristics of delinquency cases processed in juvenile court in 2016, including types of offenses, ages and gender of involved juveniles, dispositions, and pre-disposition detention.

Abstract

Property offenses were involved in 33 percent of the cases; simple assault and other person offenses composed 29 percent of the cases; public order offenses were involved in 25 percent of the cases; and drug offenses composed 13 percent of the cases. Seventy percent of all delinquency cases resulted in informal sanctions or were dismissed. Youth ages 15 and older accounted for just over 70 percent of the delinquency caseload in 2016. Youth under the age of 13 composed 8 percent of those processed, and youth 13 or 14 years old constituted 13 percent of those processed. Seventy-two percent were male, and 28 percent were female. Seventy percent of all delinquency cases resulted in informal sanctions or were dismissed. Overall, 27 percent of all delinquency cases in 2016 involved pre-disposition detention. Among these pretrial-detention cases, 33 percent involved person offenses; 29 percent involved public-order offenses; 27 percent involved delinquency cases; 23 percent involved property offenses; and 18 percent involved drugs. 4 figures