Note: please note that this page should (a) link back to the issue overview on this topic, (b) be focused either the local, state, national, or global level, and (c) be neutrally presented, based on facts, and include footnotes for each of the items.  See the Research Guide and Information Sources to assist you. 

• Link here to the overview page:  Juvenile Delinquency
  

Scope of the Problem  factual statements on the extent of the problem in the past, current, or future

• Youth confinement peaked in 1995 and has dropped by 41 percent, from 381 per 100,000 youth to 225 per 100,000.^[1]
• In 1997 delinquency case rate for white juveniles peaked (54.0), then fell 19% by 2007; for black juveniles, the rate in 2007 was down
  11% from its 1995 peak (124.3); delinquency case rate for American Indian youth peaked in 1992 (91.9), then declined 41% by 2007; delinquency case rate for Asian youth peaked in 1996 (20.5), then fell 22% by 2007.^[2]
• In 1999, law enforcement officers arrested an estimated 2.5 million juveniles and approximately 104,000 of these arrests were for violent crimes.^[3]
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated that juveniles accounted for 17% of all arrests and 16% of all violent crime arrests in 1999.^[4]
• In 2006, the estimated daily count of detained and committed youth in custody was 92,854.^[5]
• In 2009, the number of juveniles arrests under the age of 18 in the United States, was 1,906,600, which is 17% lower than in the year 2000.^[6]
• In 2009, youth younger than age 15 accounted for 26% of all juvenile arrests for Violent Crime Index offenses and 28% Property Crime Index offenses. ^[7]

Past Policy  key legislation and milestones including significant policy and funding shifts, major studies, etc.

• Prior to the Juvenile Justice Prevention Act of 1974: Policies were in place but lacked unity under a total law enforcement and criminal justice effort:
• In 1912 the Children’s Bureau was directed to investigate and report on all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life.
• In 1968 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 provided block grants to States in order to improve and strengthen law enforcement in the areas of delinquency control and prevention programs.^[8]

• The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974^[9] endorsed the removal of  juveniles from adult jails and prisons and, an end to the practice of using the juvenile court system as a means to sentence noncriminal and criminal youth to prison-like institutions for rehabilitation.^[10]  

• Annie E. Casey Foundation Report on Juvenile Detention Centers: With this, came the secure confinement of juvenile offenders in juvenile detention centers, juvenile jails, prisons, boot camps, and other residential facilities; an approach research found negatively impacted youth and the Annie E. Casey Foundation acknowledged to be "costly, discriminatory, dangerous, and ineffective." ^[11]  

Current Policy  summary of current policies in the form of legislation, programs, and funding

• The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention was created as a component of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, to administer grants for juvenile crime-combating programs, gather national statistics on juvenile crime, fund research on youth crime and administer four anticonfinement mandates–Deinstitutionalization, Segregation, Jail and Lockup Removal and Over representation of minority youths–regarding juvenile custody.^[12]
• Reauthorized of 1974 Act- Since 1977 enhancements to the Act continues through re-authorization every few years (3 or 4):
• In 1980- Provided for removal of juveniles from adult jails and lock-ups after 5 years from date of enactment of amendments.
• In 1988- Minority overrepresentation plan requirement  was added.
• In 1992- Coordinating Council was restructured to include nine Federal agency members and nine citizen practitioner members.^[13] 
• Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) As states began exploring alternative strategies such as diversion programs, intensive supervision programs, and community-based treatment and therapy,^[14] the Annie E. Casey Foundation designed the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) with a vision that all youth involved in the juvenile justice system have opportunities to develop into healthy, productive adults. JDAI encouraged changes to policies, practices, and programs to reduce reliance on secure confinement, improve public safety, reduce racial disparities and bias, save taxpayers’ dollars, and stimulate overall juvenile justice reforms.^[15]JDAI is implemented in 24 states and Washington, DC. It has close to 100 sites and has proven over and over that reliance on secure detention can be safely reduced.^[16]

Key Organizations/Individuals   contacts for public and private organizations and key individuals

• Government
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention-http://www.ojjdp.gov/

                    810 Seventh Street NW | Washington, DC 20531|Phone: 202–307–5911

• Office of Justice Programs- http://www.crimesolutions.gov/TopicDetails.aspx?ID=62

• Non-Profit - Service Providing
•  
• Non-Profit - Advocacy/Membership/Network
• Center for Children & Youth Justice- http://www.ccyj.org/

                    615 Second Ave., Suite 275, Seattle, WA 98104 | Phone: 206.696.7503 |E-Mail: info@ccyj.org

• National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice- http://www.ncmhjj.com/

                    Policy Research Associates, Inc. 345 Delaware Avenue Delmar, New York 12054 | Phone: 1-866-962-6455 | E-mail: ncmhjj@prainc.com

• Foundation
• Annie E. Casey Foundation- http://www.aecf.org/OurWork/JuvenileJustice.aspx

                    701 St. Paul Street | Baltimore, MD 21202 | Phone: 410-547-6600 | Fax: 410-547-6624 | Email:webmail@aecf.org

• Other
• Children's Defense Fund-http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/juvenile-justice/juvenile-justice.html

                    25 E Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001 | 800-CDF-1200 | cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org

Bibliography   web sites, reports, articles, and other reference material 

• Report of the Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence

          http://www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood/cev-rpt-full.pdf