Chapter 13

Juvenile Justice

HistoricalDevelopmentof
JuvenileJustice
From a historical perspective, juvenile
delinquency and a separate justice process for
juveniles are recent concepts.

juvenile delinquency
Aspecialcategoryofoffensecreatedforyouths
thatis,inmostU.S.jurisdictions,personsbetween
theagesof7and18.

TheDevelopmentof
InstitutionsforYouth
In the beginning of the 19th century, American
cities were seeing tremendous growth,
particularly because of immigration and, in later
years, industrialization.

TheHousesofRefuge
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.

houses of refuge
Thefirstspecializedcorrectionalinstitutionsfor
youthsintheUnitedStates.

TheHousesofRefuge
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.

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

TheDevelopmentofthe
JuvenileCourt
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.

TheLegalContextofthe
JuvenileCourt
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

TheLegalContextofthe
JuvenileCourt

The doctrine of parens patriae served as

the foundation for the juvenile court

parens patriae
Thelegalphilosophyjustifyingstateinterventionin
thelivesofchildrenwhentheirparentsareunableor
unwillingtoprotectthem.

TheLegalReformYears:
InreGault

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

TheLegalReformYears:
InreGault
The right to assistance of counsel
The right to sworn testimony and appeal

TheLegalReformYears:
TheJuvenileCourtAfterGault

The courts ruling in Gault and other cases not

only increased procedural formality in
juvenile court cases, but also shifted the
traditional focus from the whole child to the
childs act.
From there, it was a short step to offensebased sentencing and punitive orientation.

TheLegalReformYears:
TheJuvenileCourtAfterGault
Juvenile court procedures are still
characterized by an informality that most
people would find unacceptable if it were
applied to adults in criminal court.

TheFormalJuvenileJustice
Process
The police represent the primary gatekeepers
to the formal juvenile justice process.
85 percent of delinquency cases referred to
the juvenile courts come from police
agencies.
Status offenses are often referred by others.

status offenses
Actsthatarenotcrimeswhencommittedbyadults
butareillegalforchildren(forexample,truancyor
runningawayfromhome).

ThePoliceResponsetoJuveniles
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

TrendsinPoliceProcessingof
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

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.

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.

Detention

Sometimes a youth is held in secure detention

facility during processing. There are three
primary reasons for this practice:
1. To protect the community from the
juveniles
2. To ensure that the juvenile appears at a
subsequent stage of processing
3. To secure the juveniles own safety

IntakeScreening
When the decision to arrest a youth is made,
or a social agency such as a school alleges
that an offense has occurred, the next step in
the juvenile justice process is intake
screening.

intake screening
Theprocessbywhichdecisionsaremadeaboutthe
continuedprocessingofjuvenilecases.Decisions
mightincludedismissingthecase,referringtheyouth
toadiversionprogram,orfilingapetition.

Transfer,Waiver,or
CertificationtoCriminalCourt
Since the early days of the juvenile court,
state legislatures have given juvenile court
judges statutory authority to transfer certain
juvenile offenders to criminal court.

transfer
Theactorprocessbywhichjuvenileswhomeet
specificage,offense,and(insomejurisdictions)
priorrecordcriteriaaretransferredtocriminalcourt
fortrial;sometimescalledwaiverorcertification.

TheAdjudicationHearing
When a petition is filed at intake and the case
is not transferred to criminal court, the next
step is adjudication. Preliminary steps
include:
Filing a petition

Setting a hearing date

Notifying the necessary partiesthe youth,
the parents, and witnesses

TheAdjudicationHearing
When charges specified in the petition are
contested by a juvenile and the juvenile is
represented by an attorney, another critical
event often takes place before adjudication:

a plea bargain

TheAdjudicationHearing
There are two types of adjudications:
Contested
Similar to a trial.
Usually a bench
adjudication, not a
jury trial

Uncontested
A brief hearing in
which the youth
admits the charges.

Disposition

Disposition is the juvenile court equivalent of

sentencing in criminal court.
Disposition
Anorderofthecourtspecifyingwhatistobedone
withajuvenilewhohasbeenadjudicateddelinquent.
Adispositionhearingissimilartoasentencing
hearingincriminalcourt.

Disposition
Some of the options available are:

Probation
Placement in a diversion program
Restitution
Community service
Detention
Placement in foster care
continued

Disposition
Placement in a long-term or short-term
residential treatment program
Placement with a relative
Placement with the state for commitment to
a state facility
Or a combination of the above

Disposition
Because of recent heightened concerns about
violent juvenile offenders, many states have
legislatively redefined the juvenile courts
mission by deemphasizing the goal of
rehabilitation and stressing the need for public
safety, punishment, and accountability.

Disposition

The philosophical focus has also changed

from offender-based dispositions to offensebased dispositions, including:
Blended sentencesboth juvenile and adult
sanctions
Mandatory minimum sentences for specific types
of offenders
Extension of juvenile court dispositions beyond
the offenders age of majority

Probation
Probation is the most frequently used
correctional response for youths who are
adjudicated delinquent in juvenile courts.

Probation

Probation officers usually perform four

important roles in the juvenile justice process:

Performing the intake screening

Conducting presentence investigations
Supervising offenders
Providing assistance to youths placed on
probation

Probation
A recent trend in juvenile probation is the
development of intensive-supervision
(probation) programs, which in some
jurisdictions involve home confinement.

Restitution

In practice, there are three types of restitution:

Monetary restitutionThe youth pays cash
to the victim for harm done.
Victim-service restitutionThe youth
provides some service to the victim.
Community-service restitutionThe youth
provides assistance to a community
organization.

WildernessProbation(Outdoor
Adventure)Programs

Wilderness probation programs involve

youths in a physically and sometimes
emotionally challenging outdoor experience
intended to help them:

Develop confidence in themselves

Learn to accept responsibility for themselves and others
Develop a relationship of trust with program staff

DayTreatmentPrograms
Day treatment programs provide treatment or
services during the day and allow youths to
return home at night.
It is believed that they are:
Cost-effective
Effective at protecting the community
Can provide a range of services

FosterHomes
Foster homes are out-of-home placements
intended to resemble, as much as possible, a
family setting. It is usually used by a court when
a youths home life has been particularly chaotic
or harmful.

GroupHomes
Group homes are open, nonsecure
community-based facilities used either as an
alternative to incarceration or to help youths
transition to home.
Group homes are generally larger than foster
homes, less impersonal than institutions, and
less expensive than institutional placements.

JuvenileCorrectionalInstitutions
Institutional programs are the most restrictive
placements available to juvenile courts.
However, juvenile institutions vary in the
extent to which they focus on custody and
control.

JuvenileCorrectionalInstitutions
Secure facilities employ:
perimeter fencing
barbed wire
surveillance devices
monitoring of residents
movements
restricting residents
access to the community

Open facilities:
have no perimeter
fencing
Leave entrances and
exits unlocked
rely heavily on staff

JuvenileCorrectionalInstitutions
Juvenile correctional institutions vary:

Some are public, some are private

Many are small40 residentssome house as
many as 800 residents
Some are co-ed
Detention centers and diagnostic centers are
designed for short-term stays
continued

JuvenileCorrectionalInstitutions
Farms, ranches, forestry camps, and trainings
schools are for long-term placements
Types of programming and quality of care