2019 Reports

Massachusetts' Youth Justice System: Data Trends and Three Key Indicators

Siringil Perker, Selen

This report analyzes three key administrative datasets in Massachusetts' youth justice system and shows a steady decline in youth justice caseloads—arrests, delinquency and youthful offender caseloads in juvenile courts, and the number of youth in the custody of the Commonwealth's youth correctional agency, the Department of Youth Services—between 2008 and 2018. It demonstrates that the decline continued even after Massachusetts raised the upper age of its juvenile court jurisdiction from a youth's 17th to 18th birthday in 2013, alleviating concerns that "raise the age" laws might overwhelm youth justice systems.