The first section presents the legal definition of a juvenile, describes the different interactions juveniles may have with the juvenile and criminal justice systems, outlines several types of juvenile offenses, and identifies key sources for charting patterns of offending behavior. Several theories of juvenile delinquency are examined in terms of their impact upon the treatment and processing of juvenile offenders in the U.S. The second section systematically explores the juvenile justice system, detailing points where crucial decisions about juveniles are made as well as the factors such as crime seriousness, prior record, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender that influence these decisions. In the third section, the procedures whereby the most serious juvenile offenders are transferred to criminal courts are explored. The section also covers the roles of prosecuting and defense attorneys as well as mitigating or aggravating circumstances that can affect sentence outcomes. This is followed by a discussion of the various punishments that may be imposed on juvenile delinquents including nominal, custodial, and conditional punishments, alternative dispute resolution, community-based probation and service, electronic monitoring and home confinement, shock incarceration, parole, and wilderness experiments. The final section compares the juvenile justice systems of the U.S., Great Britain, Japan, and the Soviet Union.