CCJ Report: Overall decrease in juvenile offending

Offending by juveniles (youth under age 18) has been the subject of significant local and national discourse over the last several decades, and especially during the last few years. Incidents of juvenile firearm violence, for example, have been the subject of extensive coverage by the mass media and on social networks.1 Policymakers have also drawn attention to juvenile offending, as evidenced by recent legislation aimed at both reducing youth violence and revising juvenile justice system approaches to this population.2

Juvenile offending accounts for a notable share of crime committed in America each year. Over the period examined for this study (2016 to 2022), roughly 14% of crimes involved at least one reported juvenile offender to the findings in other research on juvenile offending that relied on similar data sources.3, 4  The COVID-19 pandemic, however, may have altered some of these patterns.5 Responses to the pandemic led to the closure of schools—a primary site of youth socialization and, consequently, some offending—potentially influencing juvenile offending patterns. School closures, combined with trends such as the recent shift to digital socialization, have resulted in youth spending more time at home.6

This Counsel on Criminal Justice report focuses on trends in violent and nonviolent juvenile offending from 2016 through 2022. Its analyses examine changes in the frequency of juvenile offending by crime type, demographics, and several other characteristics. The official law enforcement data used in this report are drawn from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) program. The final sample used for the analyses includes 3,484 law enforcement agencies covering jurisdictions with an average of about 91 million residents per study year. Additional details and limitations of these data are discussed in the supplemental methodology report.

Key Takeaways

• Overall, there has been a general decrease in most forms of juvenile offending in recent years; notable exceptions include more frequent use of firearms among youth.
• Juvenile offending (total incidents) was about 14% lower, and the total number of juveniles involved was around 18% lower, in 2022 than in 2016, the beginning of the study period.
• Trends in juvenile crime diverge by age group. Offending among juveniles aged 15 to 17 was roughly 23% lower in 2022 than in 2016; offending among juveniles aged 10 to 14, however, was nearly 9% higher over the same period.
• Homicides perpetrated by juveniles jumped 65% from 2016 to 2022, while burglary (-62%), larceny (-46%), and robbery (-45%) experienced the steepest declines.
• Violent crimes committed by White youth remained essentially unchanged during the study period, increasing by less than one half of one percent (0.44%), while violent offenses committed by Black youth decreased by about 20%. Property crimes perpetrated by Black youth decreased by about 40%, while property crimes perpetrated by White youth decreased by roughly 52%.
• The number of offenses committed by juvenile males was 21% lower in 2022 than in 2016. There was no notable change in the offending frequency among juvenile females over the same period.
• Crimes involving two or more juveniles (co-offending) were 26% lower in 2022 than in 2016, and solo offending was about 10% lower.
• Firearm involvement in juvenile offending was 21% higher in 2022 than in 2016, while other weapon use was 6% higher. This suggests a more pronounced increase in the use of guns relative to other weapons, rather than increased weapon use generally. Firearm use has also increasingly resulted in serious injury for victims in recent years.

To read the report CLICK HERE