Juvenile Crime

 

A juvenile crime is a criminal offense committed by an individual under the age of 18. If your son or daughter has been arrested for committing a crime, we are here for you. We represent youths in juvenile court and are also prepared to support your son or daughter if the judge decides their case should be handled in adult criminal court.

 

Pennsylvania Juvenile Crime Statistics

 

The most recent statistics from the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges' Commission (2012) indicate that there were 31,079 delinquency-related juvenile dispositions in one year alone. While this is a decline from the previous years, Pennsylvania still has one of the highest juvenile delinquency rates in the nation. Other interesting statistics include:

 

• Age: 17 year olds were arrested most often, followed by 16-15 year old

 

• ​Parents: Nearly half of all juveniles charged with crimes have biological parents who were never married, and most of those live only with their mother.

 

• Ethnicity: 46.1% of juvenile delinquents are white, 37.5% are black, and 11.2% are Hispanic.

 

Juvenile Courts in Pennsylvania

 

Throughout Pennsylvania, juvenile proceedings are geared more toward rehabilitation than they are toward punishment.

In January of 2005, the Pennsylvania General Assembly agreed to implement a new act that would change the way the state criminal justice system operates – that act has been coined "BARJ" or "Balanced and Restorative Justice." BARJ's mission is to protect the community, provide greater accountability, and help juveniles in the justice system become functioning members of society.

 

Juvenile Detention Center

 

Monroe County's closest juvenile detention centers are:

 

Lehigh County Juvenile Detention 

370 S Cedarbrook Rd. Allentown, PA 18104, and; 

 

Northampton County Juvenile Justice Center

650 Ferry Street Easton, PA 18042.

 

In Pennsylvania, delinquency is defined as any crime under federal, state, or local law except murder, summary offenses, and status offenses such as truancy and running away. Jurisdiction extends to youth between the ages of ten and seventeen. If the delinquent act was committed before age eighteen, jurisdiction may be extended to age twenty-one.