Juvenile crime trends in Bexar County show some increases, with serious charges doubling compared to last year.
SAN ANTONIO — New data from Bexar County shows certain crimes involving juveniles are up this year compared to the same period in 2024—including murder and assault.
436th Juvenile District Court Judge William Cruz Shaw, who has a front-row seat to those trends, highlighted two of his goals behind the bench.
“In this seat, I have two jobs: keeping them alive and out of the adult system,” he said. “They’re more than just a case file. There’s history. There’s trauma. There’s a lack of parental supervision.”
Some of the juveniles appearing in his courtroom face serious charges, including murder. The new data from the Bexar County Juvenile Probation Department highlights offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. The data goes back all the way to 2018 and also compares the year to date in 2025, through May.
As for murder and manslaughter, the number of juvenile referrals doubled compared to the same time frame last year in 2024.
However, Judge Shaw said that doesn’t tell the whole story.
“We’re seeing filed murders year to date,” he said. “These murders could have taken place in 2022, 2023, 2024. But the investigations are now complete and they’re all pretty much coming in at the same time.”
Other crimes showing increases include burglary and assault. For the latter, Bexar Couny saw a 15% rise in juvenile referrals through May, from 473 to 546. Shaw added many of these young defendants are becoming more impulsive.
“They’re a little bit more bold,” he said. “A lot has to do with social media and cell phones. You will be surprised the number of kids who do things and record it because they are looking for likes.”
Murder/manslaughter, however, is the only violent felony crime that has seen a rise with juveniles. Others, including sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault, are down—resulting in an overall decrease for violent felony referrals. The same goes for non-violent felony referrals, of which evading/resisting arrest, vehicle burglary and criminal trespass are down.
Shaw said he treats every case differently.
“Once we find out what these kids are dealing with, and what their parents are dealing with, we can hopefully guide them in the right way and get the services they need,” he said.
Shaw added that his ultimate goal is to never see the same kids in court again. He noted juvenile crime typically declines in the summer, but tends to rise again when the school year starts.
“When school starts up, and we will see that come September, our numbers will slowly start to increase,” Shaw said. “You are having hundreds and hundreds of kids all in the same building; you start seeing fights, weapons at schools, things like that.”