This fact sheet documents recent trends in arrests of youth for violent crimes, including murder, robbery, and aggravated assault, based on analyses of data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Although arrest patterns vary by demographic group and offense, the data reflect an overall decline since the mid-2000s.
By 2020, the number of violent crime arrests involving youth had reached a new low—78 percent lower than the peak in 1994 and half the number recorded in 2010. In 2020, law enforcement agencies made approximately 424,300 overall arrests involving youth younger than 18, which is 38 percent fewer than in 2019 and half the number of arrests made in 2015. Less than 1 in 10 of the overall arrests in 2020 was for a violent crime.
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