Dramatic changes in juvenile justice have occurred in recent decades. One result has been the emergence of new policies and practices, many of which remain largely unexamined. One avenue for gaining insight into whether such policies and practices are needed or effective, as well as into how the juvenile justice system might be improved, is to tap…

The public believes that today's juvenile offenders are younger than those of 20 or 25 years ago, and this common perception influences juvenile justice policy. To assess whether the age profile of juvenile delinquents has in fact changed, juvenile crime patterns from 1980 through 2006 were tracked by examining data collected by law enforcement…

This report describes the results of an exploratory study of juvenile justice programs where managers and practitioners are attempting to build youth interventions with strength-based, positive youth development principles. Previous researchers have not adequately documented how such reforms take place, let alone whether they produce effective…

Describes prominent new developments in juvenile justice, focusing on the origins of juvenile justice; the get-tough movement, which emphasizes punishment (transfer to criminal court); and promising ideas in rehabilitation, prevention, and early intervention. Suggests that a new generation of innovative programs might revive the spirit of U.S.…

This report presents findings of a study that explored issues related to juvenile delinquency by examined the most recent data on juvenile arrests and the delinquency cases processed by U.S. juvenile courts. The study compared the characteristics of young offenders arrested in recent years with those arrested in 1980 and analyzed the responses of…

Juvenile courts in the United States processed more than 1.5 million delinquency cases in 1994, representing a 5% increase over the 1993 caseload and a 41% increase over the number of cases handled in 1985. These figures are taken from "Juvenile Court Statistics, 1994," the latest in a series of annual reports on cases handled by courts with…

The teen court concept has gained popularity in recent years as juvenile courts have had to deal with increased numbers of serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. Its acceptance has been fueled, in part, by positive anecdotal reports from those involved with this peer-centered approach. Growing from a handful of programs in the 1960s,…

This document analyzes patterns in the arrest, judicial management, and correctional placement of female offenders. Data are from several federal databases, including the Children in Custody Census. In 1993, U.S. law enforcement agencies made an estimated 570,100 arrests involving females under the age of 18. Although male offenders still account…