Youth arrests and incarceration increased in the latter the 20th century but have fallen sharply since. Public opinion often lags behind these realities, wrongly assuming that crime is always increasing and that youth offending is routinely violent.
In fact, youth offending is predominantly non-violent, and the 21st century has seen significant declines in youth arrests and incarceration, reports The Sentencing Project.
The group believes that far too many youth—disproportionately youth of color—are incarcerated. Between 2000 and 2022, the number of youth held in juvenile justice facilities fell from 108,800 to 27,600—a 75% decline.
The arrest rate for people under 18 years old peaked in 1996 and has declined more than 80% since. Between 2000 and 2018, only 5% of youth arrests are for offenses categorized by the FBI as Part 1 violent crimes (aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and murder), though that proportion increased to 8% in 2020.
Between 2000 (the peak year) and 2022, the number of youth in juvenile justice facilities daily fell from 108,800 to 27,600, a 75% decline, likely reflecting both drops in youth offending and arrests during the COVID-19 pandemic and less use of incarceration for arrested youth to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in facilities.
This one-day count combines figures for those held in detention facilities (those awaiting their court dates or pending placement to a longer-term facility after being found delinquent) and youths committed to prisons, residential treatment centers, group homes, or other placement facilities.
In 2021, 44% of youth in the one-day count were in detention and 53% had been committed to a secure placement facility.
Youth of color are much more likely than white youth to be held in juvenile facilities. In 2021, the white placement rate in juvenile facilities was 49 per 100,000 youth under age 18. The Black youth placement rate was 228 per 100,000, 4.7 times higher. Tribal youth were 3.7 times as likely (181 per 100,000) and Latino youth were 16% more likely (57 per 100,000). Asian American youth were the least likely to be held in juvenile facilities (13 per 100,000).
Disparities in youth incarceration stem both from differences in offending and from differential treatment at multiple points of contact with the justice system, The Sentencing Project says.
Black youth have a greater share of arrests than white youth than their white peers, more likely to be detained upon their arrest, and receive harsher sanctions as they move through the system.
Arrested white youth are more likely to be diverted from formal system involvement compared with Black youth. When found delinquent (i.e., convicted in juvenile court), white youth are more likely to receive probation or informal sanctions, and Black youth are more likely to be incarcerated.
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