#YouthStats: Juvenile Justice

Approximately 430 young people aged 10 to 24 die every day through interpersonal violence. For each death, an estimated 20 to 40 youths require hospital treatment for a violence-related injury.
[WHO, Fact Sheet on Adolescent health, 2015, http://goo.gl/kjKbBT]

8 out of 10 adolescent girls who die as a result of violence are aged 15-19. [UNICEF A statistical snapshot of violence against adolescent girls, 2014, http://uni.cf/12DhdEo]

Violence and insecurity perpetrated by and against children and young people are caused by various factors, including weak educational and policing systems, unemployment and socio-political exclusion. [UNDESA, http://bit.ly/1K9Lhvi]

Available data show that almost 60 per cent of suspected perpetrators of homicide and more than 40 per cent of homicide victims in the Americas were males under the age of 30. [UNODC, Report of the Secretary-General: State of Crime and Criminal Justice Worldwide, 2015, https://goo.gl/rC4e0q]

Worldwide some 200 000 homicides occur among youth 10–29 years of age each year, which is 43% of the total number of homicides globally each year. [WHO, Fact Sheet: Youth Violence, 2015, http://goo.gl/Fgxt7s]

Homicide is the fourth leading cause of death in people aged 10-29 years, and 83% of these homicides involve male victims. [WHO, Fact Sheet: Youth Violence, 2015, http://goo.gl/Fgxt7s]

In many countries, the general causes of delinquency are: poverty, family conditions and low level of education. [UNDESA, http://bit.ly/1K9Lhvi]

Youth need fair and transparent access to justice systems so they can enforce and protect their rights. [UNICEF, Secretary General’s Guidance Note on the Common Approach to Justice For Children, 2009, http://uni.cf/1fxMIXu]

Effective mechanisms and policies must be in place to prevent children and youth involvement in crime and to ensure that deprivation of liberty of children and youth is a measure of last resort and applied for shortest possible period of time. If deprived of their liberty, separate detention facilities for children need to be established along with effective mechanisms for promoting their rehabilitation and social reintegration. [Joint report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children on prevention of and responses to violence against children within the juvenile justice system, 2012, http://bit.ly/1eG1dZc]