Santa Clara County probation staff presented the 2024 Juvenile Justice Data Book on Nov. 20, detailing arrest and detention trends, demographic disparities and service needs.

Eduardo Ecevez of probation said there were 2,281 arrests and citations in 2024 — up 4% from 2023 but down 32% compared with 2019 — involving 1,842 unique youth. Referrals to juvenile hall rose 14% year‑over‑year but remain below pre‑pandemic levels, he said. In 2024, 782 youth were referred to juvenile hall, 656 were detained and 469 remained detained until their detention hearing.

Probation highlighted stark disparities: Latino youth make up about 35% of the youth population but accounted for roughly 67% of arrests and 77% of detentions in the data presented; Black youth were described as experiencing the largest disparity gap at arrest in rate comparisons to white youth.

The report also showed 52% of youth referred to probation in 2024 had prior child welfare contact; the median age for a first child welfare referral was five, while first probation referrals occurred at a median age of 15. Probation officials reported nine youth committed to the Secure Youth Treatment Facility in 2024 (89% male; 78% Latino).

Supervisors asked for further analysis to explain why Asian youth show lower arrest proportions relative to population share, requested offense‑level breakdowns, and asked probation to return with detailed South County data and a fuller interpretation of the “so what” from these trends. Probation noted a diversion program that shows a 95% nonrecidivism rate at two years and offered to present more outcome analysis at the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council.

The committee voted to receive the data book and asked staff to meet with supervisors to provide deeper analysis, South County appendices and program outcome details.