In New York City, a “juvenile delinquent” is a young person between ages 12 and 15 who has committed an offense. All juvenile delinquency cases are heard in Family Court.
A 16 or 17 year old charged with an offense may be tried in the Criminal or Supreme Court, but can sometimes be moved down to Family Court depending on the severity of the crime. 
 
The most common offenses committed by juvenile delinquents include petty theft, simple assault, drug possession, and disorderly conduct. 

The demographics of juvenile delinquents in NYC reveal huge systemic and social inequalities contributing to the criminalization of young people. For example, The Sentencing Project found that in 2021, Black youth were incarcerated in juvenile facilities at almost five times the rate of white youth. The same report also found that, despite modest differences in self-reported behaviors, Black youth were more than twice as likely to be arrested than white youth.