The overwhelming majority of children we found in adult jails were not detained for violent crimes and could not be considered a threat to themselves or to the community. Only 11.7 percent were charged with serious offenses against persons. The rest88.3 percentwere charged with property or minor offenses. What is most alarming is that 17.9 percent of jailed children we found had committed "status offenses," i.e., actions which would not be crimes if done by adults, such as running away or truancy. And an additional 4.3 percent of the jailed children had committed no offense at all.