The tables and figures show delinquency cases by most serious offense for 1996; delinquency cases processed in juvenile court, 1987-96; percent change in delinquency case rates, 1987- 96; offense profile of delinquency cases by age at referral, 1996; delinquency case rates, by age at referral, 1996; percent change in delinquency cases and case rates by sex, 1987-96; and percent change in delinquency cases and case rates, by race 1987- 96. Other data address the percentage of delinquency cases referred by law enforcement, 1987, 1992, and 1996; percent change in detained delinquency cases, 1987-96; percentage of delinquency cases detained, by sex, 1987, 1992, and 1996; percentage of delinquency cases detained, by race, 1987, 1992, and 1996; juvenile court processing of delinquency cases, 1996; percent change in petitioned delinquency cases, 1987-1996; and percent change in petitioner delinquency cases waived to criminal court, 1987-96. Other data focus on other aspects of case processing, including petitioned status offense cases. The data show that from 1987 to 1996, the number of delinquency cases handled by the Nation's juvenile courts increased 49 percent, with juvenile courts processing nearly 1.8 million delinquency cases in 1996 alone. Person offenses accounted for more than 381,000 of these cases, the largest number of person offense cases to come before America's juvenile courts in a decade. 18 tables, 5 figures, and 10 related readings