Juvenile crimes are crimes committed by individuals under the age of eighteen. Juvenile offenders, also known as juvenile delinquents, are the fastest growing group of criminals in the United States. Millions of dollars are spent each year on costs associated with punishing and rehabilitating juvenile offenders. Many attribute the rise in juvenile crime to the increased availability of street drugs, growing levels of poverty and inadequate prevention and intervention programs in schools.

Law enforcement agencies refer approximately two-thirds of all arrested youth to a court with juvenile jurisdiction for further processing. As with law enforcement agencies, the court may decide to divert some juveniles away from the formal justice system to other agencies for service. Prosecutors may file some juvenile cases directly in criminal (adult) court. The net result is that juvenile courts formally process nearly 1 million delinquency offense cases annually. Juvenile courts adjudicate these cases and may order probation or residential placement, or they may waive jurisdiction and transfer certain cases from juvenile court to criminal court. While their cases are being processed, juveniles may be held in secure detention.

How does the juvenile court process a typical delinquency case? Cases referred to juvenile court are first screened by an intake department (either within or outside the court). The intake department may decide to dismiss the case for lack of legal sufficiency or to resolve the matter formally (petitioned) or informally (nonpetitioned). If the intake department decides that a case should be handled formally within the juvenile court, a petition is filed and the case is placed on the court calendar (or docket) for an adjudicatory hearing. On the other hand, the intake department may decide that a case should be removed from juvenile court and handled instead in criminal (adult) court. In these cases, a petition is usually filed in juvenile court requesting a waiver/transfer hearing. During which the juvenile court judge is asked to waive jurisdiction over the case.

At the disposition hearing, the juvenile court judge determines the most appropriate sanction, generally after reviewing a predisposition report prepared by the probation department. The range of options available to a court typically includes commitment to an institution; placement in a group or foster home or other residential facility; probation (either regular or intensive supervision); referral to an outside agency, day treatment, or mental health program; or imposition of a fine, community service, or restitution.