- Youth Population Characteristics
- Youth as Victims
- Offending by Youth
- Juvenile Justice System Structure & Process
- Law Enforcement & Youth Crime
- Youth in Court
- Youth on Probation
- Youth in Corrections
- Special Topic: Hispanic Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
- Special Topic: Racial and Ethnic Fairness
- Special Topic: State Juvenile Justice Profiles
- Easy Access to Juvenile Populations
- Easy Access to the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports
- Easy Access to NIBRS Victims
- Easy Access to FBI Arrest Statistics
- Easy Access to Juvenile Court Statistics
- Easy Access to State and County Juvenile Court Case Counts
- Easy Access to the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement
- Juvenile Residential Facility Census Databook
- National Racial and Ethnic Fairness Databook
Law Enforcement & Youth Crime
This section provides access to detailed Uniform Crime Report (UCR) statistics on arrests of youth. It presents the most current year of available data and historical trends. Statistics include arrest counts and rates, nationally and at the state level. The statistics are broken down by basic demographics (age, race, and sex).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) provide the latest answers to the most commonly asked questions about arrests of youth. Here you can find the latest estimates of youth arrests and trends in youth arrest rates by sex, race, and age with detail for specific offenses.
Notes: Arrest estimates for 2015-2020 were developed by the National Center for Juvenile Justice based on the FBI’s annual Master Arrest Files of 12-month reporting departments available from the Crime Data Explorer. Arrest estimates for 2015-2019 were revised in June 2022.
2020 was the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, which may have impacted policies, procedures, and data collection activities. Additionally, stay-at-home orders likely impacted the volume and type of law-violating behavior that came to the attention of law enforcement in 2020.
- How many arrests are made of persons under age 18? [Answer]
- What are the demographic characteristics of youth arrests? [Answer]
- What proportion of arrests involve persons under age 18? [Answer]
- How do youth arrest rates vary by State? [Answer]
Use the tables below to create custom annual and trend displays detailed by offense, age, and gender, or offense, race, and age.
- Annual table: offense, age, and gender [Answer]
- Trend table: offense, age, and gender [Answer]
- Annual table: offense, race, and age [Answer]
- Trend table: offense, race, and age [Answer]
- What are the youth arrest rate trends for certain offenses? [Answer]
Age-specific Arrest Rate Trends
- What is the trend for age-specific arrest rates for violent crime offenses? [Answer]
- What is the trend for age-specific arrest rates for murder? [Answer]
- What is the trend for age-specific arrest rates for robbery? [Answer]
- What is the trend for age-specific arrest rates for aggravated assault? [Answer]
- What is the trend for age-specific arrest rates for Property Crime Index offenses? [Answer]
- What is the trend for age-specific arrest rates for simple assault? [Answer]
- What is the trend for age-specific arrest rates for weapons law violations? [Answer]
- What is the trend for age-specific arrest rates for drug law violations? [Answer]
With support from OJJDP, the National Center for Juvenile Justice has developed a family of data analysis and dissemination tools that give users quick and easy access to detailed statistics on a variety of juvenile justice topics. Three such applications provide access to law enforcement and juvenile crime data:
- Easy Access to the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports, gives users quick access to detailed information on the characteristics of homicides dating back to 1980. Users can analyze national and State data on offender and victim demographics (age, gender, and race/ethnicity), weapon use, and offender-victim relationship, and can easily focus their analysis on offending by specific age groups. The data are derived from information gathered annually by the FBI in its Supplementary Homicide Reporting Program.
- Easy Access to NIBRS Victims (2016) [formerly "Easy Access to NIBRS: Victims of Domestic Violence"] allows users to analyze state-level data on victims of domestic violence as well as victims of all types of violence based on information collected by the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Users can explore the characteristics of victims, including demographic information of the victim (age, sex, and race), victim injury, and the victim-offender relationship. Data are based on incidents reported in 2016 from law enforcement agencies in more than 30 states.
- Easy Access to FBI Arrest Statistics provides access to detailed arrest statistics at the national, state, and county levels, for the latest available year and four previous years. Arrest statistics are presented for 29 specific offense categories. Users can choose displays that show arrests or arrest rates for youth, adults, or all ages combined, or youth or adult arrests as a percentage of total arrests. The displays can be saved and imported into spreadsheet software for further analysis. The data are derived from information gathered annually by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.