Criminal Justice: Juvenile Justice

Reports and Statistics on Juvenile Justice topics

Topic page on Juvenile Offenders from Opposing Viewpoints Database

The committee is made up of appointed representatives from the nation’s state advisory groups and advises the President, Congress, and the OJJDP Administrator on juvenile justice issues and concerns.

Through comprehensive and coordinated efforts at the federal, state, and local levels, OJP’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) aims to reduce youth crime and violence.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there were approximately 73.8 million youth under the age of 18 in the United States in 2012. State statutes define which youth are in the original jurisdiction of the juvenile court, and it varies from state to state; the upper age limit for this jurisdiction ranges from 15 to 17. In 2010, courts with juvenile jurisdiction disposed more than 1.3 million delinquency cases.

The NCJRS juvenile justice webpage. Offers publications, reports, statistics, program descriptions and links to relevant sources.

The NGC is an integral component of the Justice Department’s mission to provide innovative leadership in coordination with federal, state, local, and tribal justice systems to prevent and reduce crime. The NGC disseminates information, knowledge, and outcome‐driven practices that engage and empower those in local communities with chronic and emerging gang problems to create comprehensive solutions to prevent gang violence, reduce gang involvement, and suppress gang‐related crime.

The South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) is a state cabinet agency, and by law, it is also a treatment and rehabilitative agency for the state's juveniles.

DJJ is responsible for providing custodial care and rehabilitation for the state’s children who are incarcerated, on probation or parole, or in community placement for a criminal or status offense.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) envisions a nation where our children are healthy, educated, and free from crime and violence. If they come into contact with the juvenile justice system, the contact should be both just and beneficial to them.

The Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators (CJCA) is a national non-profit organization, formed in 1994 to improve local juvenile correctional services, programs and practices so the youths within the systems succeed when they return to the community and to provide national leadership and leadership development for the individuals responsible for the systems.

Begun two decades ago as a pilot project to reduce reliance on local confinement of court-involved youth, the JDAI change model is now operating in nearly 300 counties nationwide, dramatically reducing detention facility populations.

The Juvenile Information Network [JIN] is intended to encourage communications among juvenile justice professionals and to foster the development of new reform programs in systems at the state and local levels.

Juvenile Law Center advocates for rights, dignity, equity and opportunity for youth in the child welfare and justice systems.

The National Juvenile Detention Association (NJDA), founded in 1968, is a professional organization dedicated to supporting all facets of the juvenile detention services continuum.

Founded in 1986, The Sentencing Project works for a fair and effective U.S. criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust racial disparities and practices, and advocating for alternatives to incarceration.

Since 1978, the Youth Law Center has fought to protect the rights of children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Using its legal skills to stop abuse and open paths to success, YLC has helped children and families throughout the nation.

The National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) leads a movement of state-based juvenile justice reform organizations and alumni of its Youth Justice Leadership Institute to fight for a fairer youth justice system that’s appropriate for youth and their families. NJJN advocates for policies and practices that treat youth in trouble with the law with dignity and humanity and which strengthen them, their families and their communities.