Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Court, 2015

This fact sheet presents national estimates of delinquency cases handled by juvenile courts in 2015 and analyzes caseload trends since 2005. In 2015, juvenile courts in the United States handled 884,900 delinquency cases that involved juveniles charged with criminal law violations. From 2005 through 2015, the number of delinquency cases declined 47%, with decreases experienced in all four offense categories: property offense cases (down 51%), public order offense cases (down 49%), person offense cases (down 43%), and drug law violation cases (down 39%). In 2015, property offense cases accounted for the largest proportion (34%) of the delinquency caseload, followed by person offense cases (28%), public order offense cases (25%), and drug offense cases (13%).

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