Juvenile Justice in America

1. Juvenile Justice in America CJUS/SOC 106 Chapter 11: The History and Development of Juvenile Justice

2. Overview of juvenile justice - over 5 million in custody - most released - crimes / personal protection / status offenses - justice system: police / courts / corrections / community services a. Police - �gatekeepers� - arrest starts entry - generalists / specialists - patrol officers / investigators / SRO / DARE

3. (1) State legislators involvement (a) More receptive - funding / new laws (b) Citizen involvement - information - demand justice (2) 5 distinct types of youth - victim / pre-delinquent - status offender / minor offender - serious offender

4. (a) Victim - protect: crime / abuse / neglect - necessities of life (b) Pre-delinquent - considered �at risk� - little supervision - need control (c) Status offender - truant / runaway / drinking / etc. - need control

5. (d) Minor offender - incarceration / treatment - local (e) Serious offender - state system - enter adult system (3) Police charged with protecting - victim / offender alike (a) Deal fairly

6. - all stages (b) Balance: - best interest = juvenile - best interest = community (c) Crime fighting philosophy - with service ideal (4) Various dispositions - victim / delinquent - discretion

7. (a) Police discretion - verbal / report / arrest (b) Minorities over-represented - police target (c) System too lenient - parents - diversion (5) Responsible for all children - missing / runaway / delinquent

8. (a) Preventive measures - DARE / GREAT / SRO (b) Community involvement - truancy enforcement - �Neutral Zone� b. Courts - judge / prosecutor / defense / probation (1) Juvenile court - separate system / superior court

9. (a) Civil / criminal - civil court system (b) Bound by court rules - by statute (c) Variety of legal matters - more extensive (d) Civil in nature - evolving into adversarial - adult court

10. (e) Major differences - no jury / guardian ad litem - court terminology (2) Jurisdiction - 18 years of age (a) Probation - 21 years of age (b) Loss of jurisdiction - violent offender

11. c. Corrections - GHC Juvenile Detention Center - Dept. of Juvenile Rehabilitation (DSHS) (1) Function: - protect public - remove offenders (a) Dual function - hold accountable - provide: education / training / personal life skills

12. (2) Probation - common disposition (a) Back into community - restrictions (b) Local time - no time (3) Parole - state facility - serve time

13. The system a. First contact: police (1) 72% calls for service - crime-in-progress - already committed (2) 28% observed by police - patrol - task force - sting operation

14. b. Police on scene - initiate arrest - begin investigation (1) Officer discretion - crime (a) Verbal warning / release (b) Refer to prosecutor - report - evidence

15. (c) Release with warning - parents / other adult - take home / pickup (d) Arrest - to station - advise rights - interview - release / detention (2) Police process - most: no written policy

16. - up to officer (a) 18 + - issue citation / release - not juveniles = arrest / release (b) �Mind-set� of officer - teach lesson - lock up - no services (c) Statistics show:

17. - majority: informal disposition - 55%: community resources (deferred) - 45%: court referral (3) Detention process - held = detention hearing - release by probation (4) Court process - show cause hearing - fact finding hearing

18. (5) Dispositional hearing - state / local time - probation Historical / Philosophical Roots Integrated network - agencies / personnel a. Not system = process - not smooth flow - antagonism / conflict / differing opinions

19. (1) Juvenile network - processed through (a) Various public / private agencies - law enforcement - court (prosecutor / defense) - corrections - community-based programs (b) Reasons for conflict - police - enforcement / detention

20. - charges filed (c) Probation - release home - recommend lesser charge (d) Prosecution - refuse to charge - lesser charge / divert (e) Judge - release juvenile

21. - no time (f) Corrections - punishment oriented - social service oriented - ignore actions (g) Community-based programs - different perspectives - social / psychological intervention - family intervention - education / work programs

22. b. Juvenile process - different state to state - philosophy / laws / action taken (1) Agencies vary - Department of Corrections - Department of Juvenile Services - Department of Juvenile Rehabilitation - Department of Social Services - Department of Family Services (2) 1990s: society turns hostile

23. (a) No longer: �wayward youth� - �errant troublemaker� (b) Do not look at reason - one-parent family - educational failure - no employment (2) View as: - serious deviants (a) World of adult criminal - violent / well-armed / gangster

24. (b) Do what they want - don�t care (3) Justice system response: - more police / institutions / treatment / prevention (a) Laws passed - no smoking laws - �Becca Bill� - truancy - curfew

25. (b) Violent offender: age 16 / 17 - tried as adult History of juvenile justice a. Code of Hammurabi - 4000 years ago (1) Babylonian king - written laws - control actions: adult / juvenile - �Lex Talionis�: an eye for an eye

26. (b) Ancients: youth problems - runaways - disown parents (2) 2000 years ago - Greeks / Romans: written law - control masses (a) Roman law - distinguished juveniles / adults - age of responsibility - before age 7 / not accountable

27. (b) Civil / canon law - civil: criminal law - canon: church law (c) Major influence on world�s legal system - English law - American law (3) 800 years ago: British Common law (a) Common practice used by judges

28. - written down - other / future judges know (b) Replaced civil / canon laws - Henry VIII - divorce / re-marry (c) Distinction between adult / juvenile - under 7: incapable of intent - 7 through 14: had to prove - know right from wrong - form intent

29. (d) Parens patriae - king: father of all children (4) American juvenile system - similar to English law (a) Age - up to 7 years not form intent - 7 to 12 years: had to prove - 12 and older: could form intent (b) Parens patriae

30. - state assumed responsibility - enter home / take child - foster care / adoption b. History of juvenile institutions - 1500s, London: crime was rampant - crime up / juvenile gangs (1) Treated youth as adults - police / courts / corrections (a) Adults courts: try youth

31. (b) Punishment included: - workhouses / apprenticeships - debtor prisons / banishment - torture / death / removal (2) 1600: changes began to occur - educated class (a) Segregating youth - courts and corrections (b) Kept confidential

32. - avoid shame / stigmatization (c) 1788: separate institutions - �educate and instruct in some useful trade� (d) Causes of delinquency - poverty / lack of education - poor parental guidance Early American juvenile justice - handled similar to adults

33. - stocks / prison / banishment / death - indentured servants / military enlistment a. Treated worse other countries - enslaved labor - military service (1) US criticizes - teenagers off to war - Viet Nam (17 yrs / permission) (2) Age of 18 years

34. - go to war - in adult court - credit cards (a) Cannot legally drink - too immature b. Early 1700s - American colonies (1) Hundreds of juveniles imprisoned - minor acts / major crimes

35. - disobeying parents / way dressed - criminal acts (a) Adults / juveniles / male / female - all locked up together (b) Treated same in courts / jails - very severely (c) Mid to late 1700s - juvenile gangs - poverty / education / parentless

36. (2) Early to mid-1800s - juvenile crime continued (a) Public concern growing - justice system trying to solve problem (b) Industrial Revolution - poor / delinquent youth to work (c) Agrarian Work Ethic - sent to work on farms

37. - solve problem - out of city - farmers: free labor - would learn to change ways (d) Did not solve problem - youth ran away - rural crime rates increased (e) Today: Job Corp (3) Juvenile institutions developed

38. - deal better with juvenile crime (a) House of Refuge (1825) - New York City (b) Reform School (1845) - Massachusetts (c) Oriented to education / treatment - moving away from punishment (d) Majority were �status offenders�

39. (4) Start of reform / refuge movement - leased out to businesses - learning a trade (a) System failed - crime continued - incorrigibility increased (b) Police / courts / jails failed - did not rehabilitate c. 1860s: reform/refuge institutions

40. - developed across country / failing (1) By 1875: - most states followed Massachusetts - moved back to punishment (a) Child Savers - end punishment - establish treatment (b) Wealthy / educated class - save delinquent children

41. - changes in courts / corrections (2) Reasons for delinquency - children could be �saved�� (a) Childhood: a period of savagery - battle of �good vs. evil� - treatment / religion (b) Naturally free spirits - quest of joy / happiness - educated / trained to work

42. (c) Good children turned bad - urban environment - poverty / crime / single-parent (d) Stuck in �psychic arrest� - periods of tendency toward crime - did not pass / life of crime (3) Juvenile system again: - turned from concept of punishment d. Establishment of juvenile courts

43. - pressured legislators - separate courts - treat differently - adult crime mentality - both the same (1) Created conflicts - do-gooders vs. hard-liners - Child Savers triumphed (a) Turned to rehabilitation - care / protection / discipline

44. (b) Ceased to be criminal - �child in need� (c) First step: juvenile justice - �civil� juvenile system (2) First juvenile court - 1899 - Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) (a) Family court - juvenile matters - identify underlying problem

45. (b) Ways to solve problem - training / education / sterilization Era of socialized justice - no longer treated as criminals - protection foremost a. 1899 to 1967: - emphasis: obtaining complete picture of delinquent - attempts made to determine appropriate care

46. - looked at: home environment / schooling / maturity / mentality / work history / criminal history / peer group (1) �Case worker� approach - informality became the rule (a) No prosecutor - no defense attorney - no jury (b) Decision: best for juvenile

47. - made by participants (c) Judge / case worker / police officer / psychologist (d) Considered guilty - without trial (2) 1920s: case workers became probation officers - do what best for youth - also take into custody

48. (a) 1940s / 1950s - juvenile crime moderate - �Fabulous fifties� � life easy - employment up / poverty down - crime / poor: inner-city ghettos (b) Children / families structured - assembly line children - typical family (Father Knows Best / Leave It to Beaver) (c) Father worked / mother homemaker

49. - children go to school - graduate (d) After graduation: - work - college - military b. 1955: Holmes Case - US Supreme Court - not criminal courts - civil actions

50. (1) Constitutional rights - adults only - juveniles not entitled (a) In detention for any reason - crime / disrespect / runaway (b) Guilt: preponderance of evidence - more likely than not (c) Adult trial: - proof beyond a reasonable doubt

51. (2) 1960s: - �Terrible Sixties� - crime soared - violent / property (a) Beginning of end: - socialized justice - formal proceedings began (b) Gault vs. Arizona (1964) - changed informality - required legal rights

52. (c) Battle between legalist (formal) / caseworker (informal) - continues to present - created �adversarial system� (3) Legalist vs. Caseworker - prosecutor / judge vs. probation / social service - legalist have advantage - formality required