Juvenile delinquency refers to antisocial or criminal acts committed by persons who are not yet adults. In most of states, a person may be recognized as adult at either sixteen or eighteen years. Some states refuse to set a fixed minimum age, but leave discretion to prosecutors to argue or the judges to rule on whether the child or adolescent defendant understood that what was being done was wrong. If the defendant did not understand the difference between right and wrong, it may not be considered appropriate to treat such a person as culpable.

Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures and punishments for dealing with such crimes. Rulings in juvenile courts often give young defendants lesser criminal sentences or address more practical matters of parental responsibility by adjusting the rights of parents to unsupervised custody, or by separate criminal proceedings against the parents for breach of their duties as parents.

For more information, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/juvenile_crimes