Part of Juvenile Probation Department Data Portal
A petition is a legal document the DA files with the court. It describes the offenses the youth may have committed, resulting in their arrest. If there is enough evidence, the DA will file a petition with the court and start the court process. In San Francisco, petitions are generally filed for more serious offenses.
As the number of referrals has declined, so has the number of petitions filed. The percentage of referrals with petitions filed has hovered around 40-50% since 2018.
A sustained petition in juvenile court means that the charges were found to be true. The terms “guilty,” “not guilty,” and “innocent” are not used in juvenile court proceedings. About two-thirds of petitions sustained per year are felonies.
Once charges are found to be true, the court will determine the consequences for the behavior. A petition disposition reflects the court’s resolution of the case.
Secure Youth Treatment Facility Commitments and Juvenile Hall Commitments account for an increasing percentage of dispositions. Out of Home Placement Commitments have decreased from 15% to 8%. The percentage of Commitment dispositions overall has decreased slightly from 16% in 2020 to 14% in 2022.
The percentage of Wardship Probation dispositions has hovered between 25% – 28% since 2020. The percentage of both Non-Wardship and Informal Probation dispositions has increased.
Petitions by Demographics
Data notes and sources
Data notes and sources
The bars on the bar & line chart reflect the number of petitions filed each year. The line reflects the percentage of petitions filed each year that girls accounted for.
The remaining charts reflect the demographic composition of petitions filed by Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Age for the time period selected. Demographic data is unavailable prior to 2020.
Demographic groups with sample sizes < 11 youth in a given year are grouped into larger categories (e.g., Other Race, < 15, 18+).
Petitions by Residence
Data notes and sources
Data notes and sources
The bars on the bar & line chart reflect the number of petitions filed each year. The line reflects the percentage of petitions filed each year that youth from out of county accounted for.
The remaining residence charts reflect where youth with petitions filed live. Residence reflects all petitions filed for which residential information is available. Zip Code for SF Residence reflects only petitions filed on youth who live in San Francisco. County for Out of County Residence reflects only petitions filed on youth who live out of county. Residence data is unavailable prior to 2020.
Cases missing residential information are excluded from all residence-related statistics.
Petitions by Reason
Data notes and sources
Data notes and sources
The bars on the bar & line chart reflect petitions filed each year. The line reflects the percentage of referrals to JPD each year that resulted in a petition filed.
Petitions can include multiple charges of varying degrees of seriousness and/or violations. All analyses in this section reflect the most serious reason why a petition was filed. This data is unavailable prior to 2020.
Offense Level reflects whether the most serious reason for the petition was a new charge (felony or misdemeanor) or a violation of probation conditions.
Petitions are also categorized by Offense Type, defined as follows:
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Person: offenses against a person including assault, robbery, rape, and homicide.
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Property: offenses against property including burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, vandalism, and trespassing.
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Drug: includes both drug sale and drug possession.
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Public order: mainly probation violations, weapons possession offenses, and miscellaneous traffic offenses.
Section 707(b) of the Welfare & Institutions Code outlines a range of serious and violent crimes, including but not limited to murder, attempted murder, arson, robbery, rape, and assault with great bodily injury, for which an arrest involving a youth age 14 or older mandates detention until a court hearing. 707(b) Offense reflects whether the most serious petition charge was for a 707(b) offense.
Offense refers to the most serious petition offense, such as robbery, assault, etc.
Petition Outcomes
Data notes and sources
Data notes and sources
The bars on the bar chart reflect the number of sustained petitions each year.
Section 707(b) of the Welfare & Institutions Code outlines a range of serious and violent crimes, including but not limited to murder, attempted murder, arson, robbery, rape, and assault with great bodily injury, for which an arrest involving a youth age 14 or older mandates detention until a court hearing. 707(b) Offense reflects whether the most serious sustained petition charge was for a 707(b) offense.
Offense Level reflects whether the most serious sustained petition charge was a felony, misdemeanor, or a violation of probation conditions. It is important to note that charges are frequently reduced through the adjudication process, for example, many felony petitions are reduced to misdemeanors by the time a case resolves.
One case can have multiple petition dispositions. In prior years, petition dispositions were calculated by the most recent petition disposition for a given case. This metric has been updated to reflect the first disposition, since it is the most representative of court decision-making based on the case rather than subsequent factors.
Petition dispositions are defined as follows:
- Secure Youth Treatment Facility (SYTF) Commitment: The court has ordered a youth to be placed on wardship probation and held within the county’s Secure Youth Treatment Facility (SYTF). The SYTF is a locked facility for the confinement of youth who would have been eligible for the California Division of Juvenile Justice (state youth prison), prior to its closure in 2023. This includes youth with a sustained petition for a 707(b) offense or a registerable sex offense. The SYTF in San Francisco is currently operated in the Juvenile Justice Center, which also houses Juvenile Hall.
- Juvenile Hall (JH) Commitment: The court has ordered a youth to be placed on wardship probation and held within the county’s Juvenile Hall facility. Commitments to Juvenile Hall are shorter than commitments to SYTF.
- Out of Home Placement (OOHP) Commitment: The court has ordered a youth to be placed on wardship probation and placed in the foster care system. A common out-of-home placement type is a Resource Family (RFA). An RFA is a caregiver who provides out-of-home care for children in foster care. Another common placement option is a Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program (STRTP), also known as a Group Home. An STRTP is a residential facility that provides support, services, treatment, and 24-hour care and supervision for youth.
- Wardship Probation: The court has placed the young person under the guardianship of probation, either in the community, in a secure facility, or in an out of home placement. This means the court can make decisions about the care, treatment, living situation, and guidance of the young person. Youth who have been committed to SYTF, Juvenile Hall, or an OOHP are also on wardship probation.
- Non-Wardship Probation: The court has placed the young person under the supervision of probation in the community. The court has not declared the young person to be a ward of the court and will not remove them from their home.
- Informal Probation: Before determining whether the charges are true, the court may allow a youth to participate in a program. If the young person completes the program within the allotted time, then the petition will be dismissed.
- Transfer Out: After a court has found the charges to be true, the case may be transferred to the county where the young person resides. The court in the youth’s home county will then determine the disposition.
- Petition Dismissed: The case is dismissed and the charges are dropped, ending the court case.
Petitions Sustained and Petition Dispositions are two distinct datasets and not a 1:1 relationship. Each dataset reflects all events that occurred during the calendar year (January 1 – December 31).