A recent report found that the number of youth arrests for violent crime continued to decline in 2020 and was down 78% from its peak in 1994.

Analysis of the data from the FBI found that people aged 17 and younger accounted for just 7% of all arrests for violent crime like murder and robbery in 2020.

Law enforcement agencies made an estimated 424,300 arrests of youth in 2020, a 38% drop from the previous year and half the number from five years earlier. 8% were for a violent crime. One-fourth of one percent was for murder.

"These data reflect an encouraging trend—one that has in fact been developing over the last three decades—and offer a welcome counter-narrative to claims that youth crime is on the rise," said Liz Ryan, Administrator of the Office of Justice' Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

"They also give us reason to be optimistic about the course of juvenile justice reform, particularly efforts in many jurisdictions to replace harsh punishments with personal development opportunities and to design programs that build support into accountability."

The proportion of violent crime arrests involving youth has declined over the last decade for each offense category, dropping by half from 2010, when youth accounted for 14% of all violent crime arrests.

"The analysis of arrest statistics helps inform our understanding of the entry of young people into the justice system, underscoring the relatively small share of arrests for violence involving youth," said Director of the National Institute of Justice, Nancy La Vigne.

"The continuing decline in youth arrests overall, and for violent offenses in particular, gives us important information about the volume and nature of arrests that should be considered when developing strategies to support youth and reduce their justice involvement."

The decline in youth arrests for violent crime over the last 10 years far outpaced the drop in adult arrests. Youth arrests for violent crime fell 56% while adult arrests decreased just 6%.

There would have been a fair amount of reasons for youth crime to increase over that period, from the nationwide rioting and protests across the summer of 2020, to mass school closures.

From 2019 to 2020 however, murder arrests involving adults rose 14%, while those involving youth remained about the same. Young adults ages 18 to 24 accounted for three times the share of violent crime arrests as those under 18.

The rate of serious violent victimizations against youth, which includes robbery, rape/sexual assault, and aggravated assault, also declined substantially from 2019 to 2020.

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