Sanctions for juveniles

Information on penalties and measures has been available since 1999.

The following sanctions can be imposed under juvenile law: Custodial sentence, personal performance (community service), fines or a caution. An exemption from punishment can also be pronounced. The following measures can be imposed: placement in a closed or open institution, outpatient treatment, individual care and supervision.

Main sanctions, measures and pre-trial detention, 2020

Total convictions with main sanction1	20 611
Custodial sentence	949
unsuspended	260
partially suspended	54
suspended	635
Personal performance	6 487
unsuspended	4 608
partially suspended	558
suspended	1 321
Fine only	5 692
unsuspended	5 148
partially suspended	180
suspended	364
Caution	6 898
Measures only	20
Exemption from punishment	565
Total verdicts with measures	428
inpatient measures	63
outpatient measures	365

¹ One main sanction is established per verdict and this is the only one shown in the table. For this reason sanctions are ranked according to their severity and only the most severe sanction is shown. A custodial sentence is considered to be the most severe sanction for minors, followed by personal performance, fines, cautions and lastly exemption from punishment. Source: Juvenile detention statistics on preventive measures and sentencing (JUSAS), state of the database: 14.06.2021

Further information

Tables

Tables on juvenile sanctions

All tables on the topic Criminal justice

Publications

Publication to be downloaded in german

Publication to be downloaded in french

All publications on the topi Criminal justice

Press releases

All press releases on the topic Criminal justice

Historical data

Historical data on minors and adults 1946-1984

The Federal Statistical Office's collection of data on the convictions of minors and adults is based on extracts from the centrally managed register of convictions. This statistic has been compiled since 1946, and partially with data from 1936. For the years prior to 1948, statistical results are available in the form of tables, copies of which can be consulted or downloaded.

The continuation of the historical time series for minors can be found for the years 1984-1998 under "Historical data, minors, 1984-1998".

Detailed data on the convictions of minors from 1999 onwards are available on the Swiss Statistics website. Detailed conviction figures for adults are available for the years from 1984 onwards.

The historical conviction data cannot be compared with one another nor with data from the current data collection. Data must first be harmonised and aligned with population data.

Publication to be downloaded in german

Publication to be downloaded in french

Statistics of criminality in Switzerland in german / french

Historical data on minors 1985-1998

The information published by the Federal Statistical Office on the criminal judgements of minors is based on three statistical surveys, each one different in the way it collects and compiles data and also in how data is used and presented. Data from the first survey is contained in tables relating to criminal judgements of minors and adults passed between 1946 (partly from 1936) and 1984.

These tables were compiled on the basis of records in the criminal register. Since 1971, criminal judgements of minors have no longer been automatically recorded in the criminal register; the decision was made to discontinue this first survey. The second survey consists of aggregated data collected between 1984 and 1998. The third comes from data used in the current statistics on criminal judgements of minors. This survey has existed since 1999 and is now published with the adult convictions.

The data on the criminal judgements of minors shown below cannot be compared directly with data from the other surveys. Data must first be harmonised (see document on metadata) and then correlated with data from the corresponding age groups.
 
The publication on the evolution of the juvenile delinquency and pdf files are available in german or in french:

Publication to be downloaded in german

Publication to be downloaded in french

Criminal conviction of minors in german / french

Statistical sources and concepts

Surveys