Definition of Juvenile Delinquency

Crime is always a serious problem when it occurs in a culture, but when the perpetrators are children, it becomes even more difficult to address. Most states have specific laws to guide the way that the courts and legal system handle juvenile delinquents because it is widely assumed that minors do not exercise a mature approach to decision making. Therefore, they may not have been able to appropriately judge what the consequences of their criminal actions would be.

Identification

A juvenile delinquent is a person who is less than 18 years old who commits a crime. Although these children do have to take responsibility for their actions, go before a judge and serve a sentence, most states do not allow them to be sentenced as an adult. There are courts, parole officers and juvenile detention centers that are specially equipped to provide juvenile delinquents with the services they need while they serve their sentences.

Significance

Juvenile delinquency is a significant problem in the United States. In 1999, 10 percent of all the homicides in the country were perpetrated by individuals who were younger than 18. Juvenile delinquents accounted for 17 percent of all the arrests in the country and committed about the same percentage of the violent crimes that year. Experts link some, but not all, juvenile delinquency to gang activity.

Size

In 2006, 92,854 American juvenile delinquents where living in juvenile detention centers. Nearly 70 percent of these were teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17. About 15 percent of these were 18 years old, and about 15 percent were 14 or younger.

Geography

California has the largest number of juvenile delinquents who have been sentenced to residential placement in a juvenile detention center. In 2006, there were 15,240 incarcerated juvenile delinquents in that state. Texas and Florida had the next-largest incarcerated juvenile populations. In fact, adding the number of incarcerated juvenile delinquents in Texas and Florida together totals just a few hundred more than there are in California. These three states account for a third of the nations' juvenile delinquents who were in residential programs in 2006.

Considerations

Programs and agencies that serve juvenile delinquents are all designed to do two things: protect society and redirect the young person so that he does not continue in a life of crime. Unfortunately, some juvenile delinquents do engage in subsequent crimes. Many states allow a judge to rule that minors should be tried and sentenced as an adult when they are repeat offenders or when they commit very serious violent crimes. Usually no one under the age of 14 is tried as an adult, however.

Resources

• Safe Youth