1. Juvenile Justice
Week 1
CJ420

2. Historical Development of Juvenile Justice
From a historical perspective, juvenile delinquency and a separate justice process for juveniles are recent concepts.

3. juvenile delinquency
A special category of offense created for youths—that is, in most U.S. jurisdictions, persons between the ages of 7 and 18.

4. The Development of Institutions for Youth
In the beginning of the 19th century, American cities were seeing tremendous growth, particularly because of immigration and, in later years, industrialization.

5. The Houses of Refuge
Houses of refuge were designed to be institutions where children could be reformed and turned into hard-working members of the community.
A child could be committed to a house of refuge by a constable, by a parent, or on the order of a city alderman.

6. The Houses of Refuge
Children in houses of refuge engaged in a daily regimen of hard work, military drills, and enforced silence, as well as religious and academic training.
After “reformation,” boys were frequently indentured to masters on farms or to tradesmen, and girls were placed in domestic service.

7. Probation
Boston shoemaker John Augustus, the “father of probation,” volunteered in 1841 to provide bail for and to supervise minor offenders.

8. The Development of the Juvenile Court
During the late 1800s, a new groups of reformers, the child savers, began to advocate a new institution to deal with youth problems:
The juvenile court.

9. The Legal Context of the Juvenile Court
By the late 1800s, legal mechanisms for treating children differently and separately from adults were being put in place.
The first juvenile court was established in 1899 in Cook County Illinois

10. The Legal Context of the Juvenile Court
The doctrine of parens patriae served as the foundation for the juvenile court

11. parens patriae
The legal philosophy justifying state intervention in the lives of children when their parents are unable or unwilling to protect them.

12. The Legal Reform Years: In re Gault
In the landmark case, In re Gault (1967), the U.S. Supreme Court gave juveniles a number of due process protections:
The right against self-incrimination
A right to adequate notice of charges against them
A right to confront and to cross-examine their accusers
continued…

13. The Legal Reform Years: In re Gault
The right to assistance of counsel
The right to sworn testimony and appeal

14. status offenses
Acts that are not crimes when committed by adults but are illegal for children (for example, truancy or running away from home).

15. The Police Response to Juveniles
Typical responses that police officers employ in handling juvenile cases are:
Warn and release
Refer to parents
Refer to a diversionary program operated by the police or another community agency
Refer to court

16. Trends in Police Processing of Juveniles
In recent years, there has been a trend toward more formal processing of juveniles taken into police custody, particularly:
Referring more youths to juvenile court
Handling fewer cases within police departments
Referring more cases to criminal courts

17. Diversion
The goal of juvenile diversion programs is to respond to youths in ways that avoid formal juvenile justice processing.
Diversion usually occurs before adjudication.

18. Diversion
Diversion programs are based on the understanding that formal responses to youths who violate the law do not always protect the best interests of children or the community.

19. Detention
Sometimes a youth is held in secure detention facility during processing. There are three primary reasons for this practice:
To protect the community from the juveniles
To ensure that the juvenile appears at a subsequent stage of processing
To secure the juvenile’s own safety

20. Questions