U.S. - number of serious violent crimes by youth 1980-2020

In 2020, there were about 100,000 serious violent crimes committed by youths between the ages of 12 and 17 in the United States. While the figures for 2017 do not include data for homicides, this is still a significant decrease from 1994 levels, when violent crimes committed by youths hit a peak at over 1.05 million serious crimes.

Youth and crime

According to the most recent data, most criminal youths in the United States were arrested on robbery and aggravated assault charges. The number of adolescent violent crime victims in the U.S. far surpasses the number of adolescent perpetrators. The number of adolescent victims has also declined significantly since the early 1990s, following the national downward trend of violent crime.

Overall downward trends

There is not only a downward trend in the number of violent crimes committed by youths, but also in the share of crimes involving youths. On a national level, the crime rate has also decreased in almost every state, showing that the country is becoming safer as a whole.