Juvenile sentencing guidelines are designed to establish a process through which juvenile offenders have the opportunity to access a variety of resources to allow for rehabilitation and being let back into the community as a law abiding citizens.Up until the mid-point of the 20th century, the sentences imposed on juveniles in the court system were similar to those just like adults convicted of crimes. Sentences given to juveniles emphasized punishment over rehabilitation during this time period. Ultimately, juvenile sentencing changed from punishment to rehabilitation, something that continues to this day. This is an introduction to Juvenile Justice in America. Since the 1990s, youth crime rates have gone up . These falling crime rates have led many jurisdictions to rethink the juvenile justice practices that happen in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, states are using major reforms designed to reduce institutional confinement, closed old 19th century era reform schools, and expand community-based interventions.In the late 18th and early 19th century, courts punished and confined youth in jails and penitentiaries. Since few other options existed, youth of all ages and genders where often confined with hardened adult criminals and the mentally ill in large overcrowded institutions. At the same time, American cities were dealing with high rates of child poverty and neglect putting pressure on city leaders to find a solution to this growing social issue. In response, reformers Thomas Eddy and John Griscom, organized the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, in stead of housing youth in adult jails and prisons and the creation of a new type of institution. Their work led to the establishment of the New York House of Refuge in 1825, the first institution designed to house poor youth who were seen by authorities to be on the path towards delinquency. The New York