Juvenile Justice

A special category in the justice system created for youth

—that is, in most U.S. jurisdictions, persons between

the ages of 7 and 18.

History of Juvenile Justice

From a historical

perspective, juvenile delinquency and a separate justice process for juveniles are recent concepts.

In the beginning of the 19th century (the 1800’s), American cities were seeing

tremendous growth, particularly because of immigration and, in later years, industrialization.

The Development of Institutions for Youth

The first specialized correctional

institutions for youths in the United States.

Houses of Refuge

The Houses of RefugeHouses 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.

The Houses of RefugeChildren in houses of refuge engaged in a daily regimen of hard work, military drills, and enforced silence, as well as religious and academic training.

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

During the late 1800’s, a new groups of reformers, the child savers, began to advocate a new institution

to deal with youth problems:

The juvenile court.

The Development of the Juvenile Court

The Legal Context of the Juvenile Court

The legal philosophy

justifying state intervention in the lives of children when

their parents are unable or

unwilling to protect them.

Juvenile CourtBy 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.

Juveniles at Risk

school failures dysfunctional families

substance abuse mentally disordered

crime committed school expulsion

informal probation court involvement FORMAL probation

out of home placement Juvenile Hall/detention center

Prevention services:•School services•County social services•Community Based Organizations

Please read about the case and complete

16.7 a&b

Gerald Gault pg. 185

Gerald Gault case•In 1964, fifteen-year-old Gerald Gault, from Arizona, was accused by a neighbor of making an obscene phone call and was arrested.• After a hearing in which he was not represented by an attorney or allowed to confront his accuser, Gerald was sentenced to juvenile prison until his twenty-first birthday.

Gault outcome…In the landmark case, In re Gault (1967), the U.S. Supreme Court gave juveniles a number of due process (14TH ammendment) protections:

1. The right against self-incrimination

2. A right to adequate notice of charges

against them3. A right to confront &

cross-examine their accusers

4. The right to assistance of counsel

(lawyer)5. The right to sworn testimony and appeal

What is meant by due process?The Constitution guarantees that the government cannot take away a person's basic rights to 'life, liberty or property, without due process of law.' 

Arizona case that all states must give juvenile

defendants the same constitutional rights as adult criminal defendants.

Gerald Gault

The police represent the primary

gatekeepers to the formal juvenile justice process.

The Formal Juvenile Justice Process

Typical responses of police officers handling juvenile cases are:

The Police Response to Juveniles

• Warn and release• Refer to parents• Refer to a diversionary

program operated by the police or another community agency

• Refer to court (arrest)

Comparing law Termsjuvenile adult

1. Crime2. Arrest3. File charges4. Not guilty plea5. Guilty plea6. Trial7. Found guilty8. Sentencing9. Jail10.Parole

1. (status) Offense2. Take into

custody3. Petition4. Denial5. Admission6. Adjudicatory Hearing

7. Found Delinquent8. Disposition9. Detention10.Aftercare

The Formal Juvenile Justice Process

• 85 percent of delinquency cases referred to the juvenile courts

come from police agencies.

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

Referring to juvenile court…

•Juvenile hearings never have a jury.•Only in adult courts.•Decided by US Supreme Court in 1971

•Juvenile hearings are private and not open to the public.

Look at the Juvenile Justice Process flow chart on page 190

How many times can the juvenile case be dismissed in the process?

Notice how many steps there are in this process.

As a way to get tougher on crime, the process has been made easier to transfer juveniles to

adult court.

Adult or Juvenile?

Page 181-183Do prob. 16.2,16.3,16.4,16.5

Write down the 3 things that the Federal office of Juvenile Justice

and Delinquency Prevention recommends for an effective juvenile justice system.

You be the judge…

Case studies Marquese

Read about the following 4 boys, and what happened to each of them in the Juvenile Justice System.

Questions to follow.

Manny

Shawn

Jose

• The Case of the 15 year old Murderer

• Madison Frasier Case Scenario

• Expressing your opinion

with reasons about the perfect juvenile justices

system

Juvenile Sentencing