CMPD says special team helped reduce number of crimes by youth in 2025
Crimes involving minors in Charlotte decreased in 2025 compared to 2024, according to new Charlotte-Mecklenburg police data.
Incidents involving youth suspects decreased 11%, largely due to CMPD’s Juvenile Accountability Diversion and Empowerment team, department leaders said at a Jan. 15 press conference. The team is known as JADE.
The JADE team was launched in 2024 and was formed to address youth recidivism and investigating youth crimes, CMPD said. In addition to seizing firearms and drugs and recovering vehicles and stolen goods, the team conducts home visits to teenagers to prevent repeat offending, the report said.
CMPD said property crimes involving youth suspects were down 19% and violent crimes were down 9%. Juvenile arrests fell 12% in 2025, and juvenile violent crime suspects dropped 9%, according to the end-of-year report.
But teenage suspects in shootings into occupied dwellings were up 26% in 2025, and larceny from auto cases rose by 7%. There were 15 juvenile homicide victims last year, up 25% compared to 2024, the report said.
