...Juvenile Justice System History of the juvenile justice system The first juvenile court was established in Chicago in 1899. Leading up to this point children over the age of seven were tried in the regular criminal court which lead to many problems in the rehabilitation of juveniles. According to United States Courts (n.d.), “Gerald (“Jerry”) Gault was a 15 year-old accused of making an obscene telephone call to a neighbor, Mrs. Cook, on June 8, 1964. After Mrs. Cook filed a complaint, Gault and a friend, Ronald Lewis, were arrested and taken to the Children’s Detention Home” (para. 1). The Court closely examined the juvenile court system, ultimately determining that, while there are legitimate reasons for treating juveniles and adults differently, juveniles facing an adjudication of delinquency and incarceration are entitled to certain procedural safeguards under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Control Act of 1968 and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, both stress the importance of separation between noncriminal (status) offenders and those who are accused with criminal offences in terms of legal treatment. In addition, the Acts call for deinstitutionalization of those “light” offenders and demand that convicted juvenile will be removed from adult jails and prisons. Treating young offenders as adults has proved counterproductive and raised questions about the fundamental...
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...evolution of the juvenile justice system. More specifically, how the system changed, structurally and procedurally. The paper will cover if these changes resulted in a better more efficient juvenile justice system. These changes will be explained by showing how they did or didn’t help the juvenile justice system. The last thing being discussed is whether or not the juvenile justice system still acts in the best interest of the juvenile. The paper will also discuss how the system is or isn’t acting in the best interest of the juveniles. To be able to talk about the evolution of the juvenile justice system, one must start at the beginning. The first juvenile court was created in 1899, in Cook County, Illinois (Bates...
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...The False Promises of the Juvenile Justice System One of the most controversial topics in America concerns the justice system and its policies. Under this category is the juvenile justice system which deals with delinquent children and rare cases of serious juvenile offenders. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the justice system promises to make juvenile contact with the system “rare, fair, and beneficial.” It also states that its goal is to use “effective and coordinated prevention and intervention programs.” The statement ends with a pledge to assist juveniles by providing the “necessary treatment and rehabilitative services.” Many people have their own sentiments regarding how the justice system...
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...non-criminal behavior simply because there was no other solution. “The adult criminal code applied to children, and no juvenile court existed” (Siegel & Welsh, 2011). Because of this Houses of Refuge were created. Houses of refuge were the early introduction to juvenile justice. A house of refuge was ‘the first institution designed to house poor, destitute and vagrant youth who were deemed by authorities to be on the path towards delinquency” (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 2013). They were created and designed by the child savers to target youth who showed signs of delinquent behavior. Houses of refuge were located in impoverished or urban areas. They eventually became overpopulated because it, like adult prisons, was housing delinquent juveniles with not form of rehabilitation. A new plan of action had to take place to correct this system. The top goal of the juvenile justice system is to prevent crime and by juveniles and rehabilitate those that were accused of offenses. The juvenile justice system began finding alternative ways to deal with deviant youth. In 1874 The Society for the prevention of cruelty to children or SPCC was created in New York. This organization was created to protect youth exposed to neglect or abuse at home and at school. Parens Patriae was introduced and it allowed to the state to take over custody and rights over a juvenile that was subjected to any form of neglect, or abuse at home. Youth today are not really treated fairly. It seems that...
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...The Juvenile Criminal Justice System The statistics of juvenile crime are staggering: each year the juvenile justice system processes more than 2.5 million juvenile arrests each year and decides the fate of nearly 5,000 delinquent juveniles every day. This paper will cover the philosophies that shape the juvenile system and how it differs from the adult justice system. It will also touch upon the sanctions involved, the legal factors that are associated with sentencing and how the appeals process works (Chung, Little, Steinberg, & Altschuler, Feb.2005) Historically, juvenile criminals were treated the same as adult criminals. It wasn’t until about a century ago that the philosophy behind the way that juveniles that violate criminal laws were treated differently from adult offenders. Punishment was the central criminal law philosophy in English common law. Most people presumed that children under the age of seven were not capable of forming criminal intent, thus eliminating them from the criminal justice system completely. Children between the ages of seven and 14 were also presumed incompetent to form the requisite criminal intent unless the prosecutor could demonstrate that the child knew the difference between right and wrong. Children over age 14 were presumed to have the capacity to form criminal intent (Patton, 2011). During this time there were no special courts to deal with adolescent offenders. Because of this they were arrested, held in custody, tried, and...
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...Juvenile Justice System Essay Juvenile justice is something that our country has been dealing with for a very long time, since the first juvenile court in 1899. There is something that goes along with juvenile justice and that is dissenting justices. What that means is an opinion in a legal case written by one or more judges expressing disagreement. Before the first juvenile court, a juvenile delinquency had to be processed through the adult justice system. This system gave youths much more harsh penalties. Separate juvenile courts started appearing in every state by 1945. In 1966, a young boy named Gerald Gault was taken into custody for making a telephone call that was obscene. Gerald Gault was 15 years old and had previously been on probation. When Gault was arrested, his parents happened to be at work and the police did not leave any notice to them. Gault was then held before a juvenile court and was further admitted to the State Industrial School until he was 21 years old. The disagreements between the judges were if the procedures that were used to commit Gault were legitimate under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision was made by Judge Mcghee and was later found to be wrongly decided. The Court found Gault’s case met none of the requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment. These requirements include notification of both the parents and the child the juveniles opportunity for confrontation and cross-examination during hearings, safeguard...
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...One of the most complex and sensitive issues involving the justice system is the situation involving violent juvenile crime. Juvenile crime is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “conduct by a juvenile characterized by antisocial behavior that is beyond parental control and therefore subject to legal action”. A violent juvenile crime would be considered conduct that also harms oneself or harms the people around them. While these acts are heinous and hurt not only themselves and others, we debate on how to solve the problem. While some lay blame to the juveniles themselves, other see the environment and culture to blame. This paper will be discussing nature and extent of violent delinquency, finding the underline causes of it and finally proposes a practical solution to the problem. To do...
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...experiences of being abused. A portion of these teenagers end up performing deeds that violate the law and are sent to juvenile justice systems. At these juvenile justice systems, juveniles are meant to be disciplined and taught to become a better citizen; however, there have been cases that show that the juvenile court systems have not only done little to nothing to benefit the juveniles, but also held them back in both school and life. Because of the harm and delay to these juveniles’ life, juvenile justice systems are not beneficial for troubled teens. Juvenile justice systems are meant...
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...Future of the Juvenile Justice System Abel Rosas, Kimberly Garner, Brenda Brown Professor: Cory Kelly University of Phoenix CJA374 June 18, 2012 Introduction The juvenile justice system follows along the same lines and guidelines of adult court with a few exceptions to the rules and regulations. There are some changes that need to be made in order for the juvenile justice system to run better. We need to be more adverse in the decisions that are made for our youth of today and their futures tomorrow. What changes need to be made in order for a better adverse system to exist? How are we supposed to make sure that the changes that are made are going to be sufficient enough for everyone to follow? These are just a few questions that need to be answered. These are just a few changes that need to be made in order for the juvenile justice system to work accordingly. Community Involvement In order for the juvenile justice system to have any type of future, the communities need to get more involved in programs where these juveniles can go to after or before school. Prevention programs are very important in decreasing juvenile crime. Children need to know that their actions can have serious consequences and that there are programs out there that can help them if they choose to get help. There are many programs that have been successful in helping juveniles stay out of trouble these include: Boys and Girls Club, after school programs, family support...
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...Future of the Juvenile Justice System The future of the juvenile justice system is uncertain. There is a struggle to try a find a way to serve the needs of the juvenile delinquents and issue them a punishment for violating the law. In order to improve the direction of the juvenile justice system, recommendations are needed regarding community involvement, law enforcement, courts, corrections, and the private sector. These recommendations address issues that the system is currently facing and offers solutions for the future. A justification of the system is also offered based on the histories, trends and causation theories. Community Involvement Community involvement is an important aspect of the juvenile justice system. Police form communities ties through their involvement and contact with those in the community. Juvenile attitudes and perceptions of police are based on several issues. Weakened community ties, fear of crime, and higher levels of strain contribute and create negative juvenile attitudes towards law enforcement. Individuals that do not have contact with the police tend to have the highest perception of law enforcement. In an analysis of juvenile attitudes, it was found that juveniles that had contact with police through prevention programs had similar attitudes towards the police as those that had no contact with law enforcement (Brick, Taylor, & Esbensen, 2009, p. 493). Adjudicated youth with disabilities transitioning back into the community are also...
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...The History of Juvenile Justice system: The juvenile justice system began in the 18th Century, when children as young as 7, could stand trial in criminal court and is found guilty they could be sentenced to prison. Around 1825 the separation of juveniles and adult offenders were in effect and soon after, facilities for juvenile were established. In 1899 the first juvenile court was established in Illinois. The British doctrine of parens patriae, where the state would intervene in the lives of children and act as the parent and focus on the welfare of the children. By 1910 many states established juvenile courts services and by 1925 the juvenile courts were trying to figure out a way to merely help children through treatment rather than punishing...
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...Many gay and transgender youth leave their homes of their own accord to escape the conflict and emotional or physical abuse that can ensue 26 percent report leaving their homes at some point but more often, they are pushed out and into the juvenile justice system by their own families. Programs designed to keep children and youth off the streets, such as foster care, health centers, and other youth-serving institutions, are often ill-prepared or unsafe for gay and transgender youth due to institutional prejudice, lack of provider and foster-parent training, and discrimination against gay and transgender youth by adults and peers.As a result, many youth run away from these placements, actions that could also land them in the custody of the juvenile justice system....
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...Kentucky form of juvenile justice The traditional codes of law when coming to Kentucky law have mostly been repealed and they were located in title XVII – Economic Security and public welfare before 1987. To implement the rulings on Supreme Court cases and state cases to transform the juvenile system into more of a due process and Punitive More punishing system for juveniles. The laws change all the time, but there are some traditional punishments still in the juvenile system. Like officer still have some discussion of the cases. The officer and the judges do even if the DA does not like it. The only part of Kentucky code that could be counted as traditional, but could also be due process is 605.035 Family accountability, intervention, and...
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...Future of the Juvenile Justice System Paper Christopher D. Herring Kimberly Sumptner Florence Ansong University of Phoenix CJA/403 Kellie Bauss January 24, 2011 Courts The juvenile court system has been around for a long time, dating back to the late 1800s when the United States was putting together some of the policies regarding youth offenders. The juvenile court system was just the same as the adult court system, youth offenders over the age of seven were placed imprisoned with the adults. (LawyerShop (n.d) But this policy would shortly change, society knew this would not work and decided it better to rehabilitate the youth rather than punish the youth. Therefore, the juvenile system was revised, youth were no longer imprisoned with the adults and no longer tried as adult offenders. Instead juveniles were placed in reform housing which are better known as reform schools. As time moved on the juvenile court system began to change even more, juvenile courts had jurisdiction over all cases involving youth under the age of 18, by the 1960s (LawyerShop, (n.d.) The juvenile court system had completely separated itself from the adult court system. However, the juvenile system would soon change, the juvenile crime rate began to rise in the late 80s and mid-90s, and would reach its peak...
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...The laws that shape our juvenile justice system are written with regards to the offender’s gender, which assumes that both genders face the same issues and delinquency risks. Statistics have proven that males make up an overwhelming majority of the delinquents in the juvenile justice system. As a result, most systems are designed to deal with the needs of males as the priority and simply adjust to the female offenders needs if possible. This is counterproductive as female offenders show different trends affecting their detention. Many of the girls detained are a result of mandatory domestic violence arrests that require a minimum of a 12 hour detention period. Also girls are 73% more likely to be the victim of sexual assault which leads to...
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