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Showing results for youthful offender. Search instead for young+offender.
Synonyms

youthful offender

American  
[yooth-fuhl uh-fen-der] / ˈyuθ fəl əˈfɛn dər /
Also youth offender

noun

  1. a young delinquent, especially a first offender, usually from 14 to 21 years old, whom the court tries to correct and guide rather than to punish as a criminal.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The ruling made them eligible for parole under California's youthful offender law which allows those who committed crimes before the age of 26 to seek a reduced sentence.

From BBC • Aug. 23, 2025

Resentencing could trigger their eligibility for parole through the state’s youthful offender law since they were under 26 at the time of the murders.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2025

Weidert was a youthful offender who has "an impeccable prison record" and four psychological assessments saying he would be of little risk if released, said his attorney, Charles Carbone.

From Fox News • Aug. 10, 2021

Weidert was a youthful offender who has “an impeccable prison record” and four psychological assessments saying he would be of little risk if released, said his attorney, Charles Carbone.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 9, 2021

This plan being adopted let everything be done to reform the youthful offender while in jail.

From The Twin Hells; a thrilling narrative of life in the Kansas and Missouri penitentiaries by Reynolds, John N.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.