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 during adolescence. The sample includes 1,216 youth arrested for the first time in Orange County, California  (N = 532), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (N = 533), and Jefferson Parish (New Orleans), Louisiana (N=151).

The youth were at least 13 years old and under 17 years old at the time of their first arrest, and were charged with a pre-selected, eligible moderate-level offense (e.g., assault, petty theft, vandalism). Recruitment occurred between July 2011 and May 2013. As of now, study participants have been being followed and interviewed regularly for nine years after their first arrest.

The primary goals of the study are to:

1. Examine patterns of offending and desistance across adolescence and young adulthood among first time juvenile offenders
2. Identify the underlying individual and contextual factors driving the desistance and persistence of delinquency and crime across the life-course
3. Investigate how justice system experiences (i.e., formal processing versus diversion) promote or hinder desistance and other positive life outcomes