Chapter 13

Juvenile Justice

Historical Development of Juvenile Justice

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

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

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.

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.

houses of refugeThe first specialized correctional institutions for youths in the United States.

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.

After “reformation,” boys were frequently indentured to masters on farms or to tradesmen, and girls were placed in domestic service.

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

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.

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

The Legal Context of the Juvenile Court

• The doctrine of parens patriae served as the foundation for the juvenile court

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

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

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The Legal Reform Years:In re Gault

• The right to assistance of counsel• The right to sworn testimony and appeal

The Legal Reform Years:The Juvenile Court After GaultThe court’s 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 child’s act.

From there, it was a short step to offense-based sentencing and punitive orientation.

The Legal Reform Years:The Juvenile Court After Gault

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

The Formal Juvenile Justice 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 offensesActs that are not crimes when committed by adults but are illegal for children (for example, truancy or running away from home).

The Police Response to JuvenilesTypical 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

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

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.

DetentionSometimes 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 juvenile’s own safety

Intake Screening

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 screeningThe process by which decisions are made about the continued processing of juvenile cases. Decisions might include dismissing the case, referring the youth to a diversion program, or filing a petition.

Transfer, Waiver, or Certification to Criminal Court

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.

transferThe act or process by which juveniles who meet specific age, offense, and (in some jurisdictions) prior-record criteria are transferred to criminal court for trial; sometimes called waiver or certification.

The Adjudication Hearing

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 parties—the youth, the parents, and witnesses

The Adjudication Hearing

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

The Adjudication Hearing

There are two types of adjudications:

Contested Uncontested Similar to a trial. Usually a bench adjudication, not a jury trial

A brief hearing in which the youth admits the charges.

DispositionDisposition is the juvenile court equivalent of sentencing in criminal court.

DispositionAn order of the court specifying what is to be done with a juvenile who has been adjudicated delinquent. A disposition hearing is similar to a sentencing hearing in criminal court.

Disposition

Some of the options available are:• Probation• Placement in a diversion program• Restitution• Community service• Detention• Placement in foster care

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• 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

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

DispositionThe philosophical focus has also changed from offender-based dispositions to offense-based dispositions, including:• Blended sentences—both juvenile and adult

sanctions• Mandatory minimum sentences for specific types

of offenders• Extension of juvenile court dispositions beyond

the offender’s age of majority

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

ProbationProbation 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.

RestitutionIn practice, there are three types of restitution:

• Monetary restitution—The youth pays cash to the victim for harm done.

• Victim-service restitution—The youth provides some service to the victim.

• Community-service restitution—The youth provides assistance to a community organization.

Wilderness Probation (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

Day Treatment ProgramsDay 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

Foster HomesFoster 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 youth’s home life has been particularly chaotic or harmful.

Group HomesGroup 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.

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.

Juvenile Correctional Institutions

Juvenile Correctional InstitutionsSecure facilities employ: Open facilities:

• have no perimeter fencing

• Leave entrances and exits unlocked

• rely heavily on staff

• perimeter fencing• barbed wire• surveillance devices• monitoring of residents’

movements• restricting residents’

access to the community

Juvenile Correctional InstitutionsJuvenile correctional institutions vary:• Some are public, some are private• Many are small—40 residents—some house as

many as 800 residents• Some are co-ed• Detention centers and diagnostic centers are

designed for short-term stays

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Juvenile Correctional Institutions

• Farms, ranches, forestry camps, and trainings schools are for long-term placements

• Types of programming and quality of care