The previous figures lead us to ask whether juvenile crime is as serious as public opinion
seems to suggest. Based on official statistics, the most likely answer would be that it is not.
We might say that what really happens is that we have a relatively small number of kids who
are responsible for most of the crimes. Note however that given data limitations, we are
talking about detected crimes dealt with by the courts. Research indicates that the majority of
offences committed by juveniles are less serious than the ones committed by adults.