Juvenile delinquency is the breaking of the criminal code by a person who is not an adult (an individual under the age of 17 or 18 years in most U.S. jurisdictions). Individuals qualifying as juveniles are processed in the juvenile court system. This can include offenses considered to be criminal offenses for adult offenders (e.g., theft, assault, murder) or behaviors prohibited for juveniles, known as status offenses (e.g., truancy, running away, breaking curfew, underage drinking). This entry provides a brief overview of relevant statistics on justice-involved youth and rates of recidivism (i.e., reoffending) and history of the juvenile justice system as well as developmental theories regarding antisocial behavior in adolescence and psychological disorders relevant to juvenile delinquency and antisocial behavior. Finally, this entry ends by ...

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