Author(s): The National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ)
- Sarah Hockenberry
- Charles Puzzanchera
Published: May 11, 2017
Report Intro/Brief:
“Juvenile Court Statistics 2014 describes delinquency cases and petitioned status offense cases handled between 2005 and 2014 by U.S. courts with juvenile jurisdiction. National estimates of juvenile court delinquency caseloads in 2014 were based on analyses of 691,687 automated case records and court level statistics summarizing an additional 38,591 cases. Estimates of status offense cases formally processed by juvenile courts in 2014 were based on analyses of 67,978 automated case-level records and court-level summary statistics on an additional 4,264 cases. The data used in the analyses were contributed to the National Juvenile Court Data Archive (the Archive) by more than 2,400 courts with jurisdiction over 84% of the juvenile population in 2014. Courts with juvenile jurisdiction may handle a variety of matters, including child maltreatment, traffic violations, child support, and adoptions. This report focuses on cases involving juveniles charged with law violations (delinquency or status offenses).
Chapters 2 and 3 of this report present national estimates of delinquency cases handled by the juvenile courts in 2014 and analyze caseload trends since 2005. Chapter 2 describes the volume and rate of delinquency cases, demographic characteristics of the juveniles involved (age, gender, and race), and offenses charged. Chapter 3 traces the flow of delinquency cases from referral to court through court processing, examining each decision point (i.e., detention, intake decision, adjudication decision, and judicial disposition), and presenting data by demographic characteristics and offense. Together, these two chapters provide a detailed national portrait of delinquency cases.
Chapter 4 presents national estimates of status offense cases formally handled by the juvenile courts in 2014 and caseload trends since 2005. It includes data on demographic characteristics, offenses charged, and case processing. Appendix A describes the statistical procedure used to generate these estimates. Readers are encouraged to consult appendix B for definitions of key terms used throughout the report.”
