The Crossroads study is a multi-site, longitudinal study of youth who were arrested for the first time during adolescence. The study was originally designed to examine the long-term impacts of formal versus informal processing. Between July, 2011 and May, 2013, 1,216 youths arrested for the first time in Orange County, California  (N = 532), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (N = 533), and Jefferson Parish (New Orleans), Louisiana (N=151) were enrolled into the study.

The enrolled youth were at least 13 years old and under 17 years old at the time of their committing offense, and were charged with a pre-selected, eligible moderate-level offense (e.g., assault, petty theft, vandalism). Study participants have been being followed and interviewed regularly for up to nine years after their first arrest.