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The Juvenile Justice System

            This paper examines juvenile and criminal justice policies and practices with respect to young offenders who cross over from the juvenile to the criminal justice system. It focuses on the age period between mid-adolescence and early adulthood (roughly ages 15 to 29), with a particular focus on older juvenile delinquents ages 15-17 who are candidates for transitioning into the criminal justice system, and young adult offenders ages 18-24. .
             The juvenile and criminal justice systems in the United States have experienced a tumultuous period over the past half century. Beginning in the 1960s, the national crime rate sharply increased, prompting some criminologists to join with political forces to reject the rehabilitative ideal in favor of a "justice model " that limited correctional officials' discretion with offenders and instituted determinate sentencing. A pessimistic 1974 review of program evaluations in juvenile and criminal justice systems buttressed the pendulum swing from treatment to punishment. Some analysts warned of a coming generation of juvenile "superpredators." Although this dire prediction never materialized, the more punitive philosophy of the criminal justice system filtered down to the juvenile justice system and ushered in significant changes in policies and procedures for handling juvenile offenders. Large numbers of juvenile offenders were removed from the juvenile justice system and placed in the criminal justice system. Blended sentence provisions were enacted into law along with offense-based criteria and mandatory minimum sentences. Punitive measures were used more widely. New laws designated more juveniles as serious offenders, brought more minor offenders into the system, and extended periods of confinement in juvenile correctional facilities. .
             The period of overreaction to juvenile crime appears to be ending. Both the juvenile and criminal justice systems are returning to an emphasis on rehabilitation and evidence-based practices.


Essays Related to The Juvenile Justice System

1. Juvenile Delinquency

... appeal and the privilege against self-incrimination. The ruling required juvenile courts across the nation to bring in court reporters for creation of created official records, to appoint lawyers for children and to adopt new operating rules. The juvenile justice system is comprised of the police, the juvenile courts, the courts' intake and probation staffs, attorneys for the state and for the child (and often for the parents), juvenile detention centers, juvenile correctional facilities and the social agencies ... that take children in placement on order of the juvenile court. "Each gr...

  • Word Count: 8199
  • Approx Pages: 33
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Juvenile Reform: On the Right Track?

... patterns, in order to better help the juveniles. Reformers have been making changes within the juvenile justice system in order to get the system working at its best. Despite reforms made to the juvenile justice system, changes are still needed. To fully understand the necessary changes needed, is it important to know the history of the juvenile justice system, along with a specific understanding of the word "juvenile". The fact that there is a mistreatment of juvenile within the juvenile justice system is not something new, nor ... can it be blamed on the system "slacking off". There a...

  • Word Count: 2903
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Criminal Justice and Juvenile Rehabilitation

... . There might be some mistakes in which the juvenile was following their friends because of peer pressure and have been arrested without the consequences of the crime. Many situations come where the juvenile justice system should consider community based treatment like rehabilitation for the juveniles but instead the justice system would just incarcerate the juvenile. Rehabilitation should be the focus of the juvenile justice system and not just throwing kids in jails. The juvenile justice system needs to focus more on rehabilitation because ... it will lessen the time juveniles spend in...

  • Word Count: 907
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. The Juvenile Delinquency System

... dealers or people who want to make quick money by mugging you. The government tries to help out juvenile delinquents as much as they can. The juvenile justice system focuses on helping juvenile delinquents under the parens patriae philosophy. Parens patriae means that the court and the state have to act in the best interest of the child and should provide care and protection equivalent to that of a parent ... reason why they may join gangs is because they of the possibilities of making lots of money with the gang. They may also do it because of the reputation and the power that the gang ...

  • Word Count: 3291
  • Approx Pages: 13
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Juvenile Justice

... to give a brief history of the juvenile justice system and what they did to punish the offender. Also some different ways to transfer juveniles to adult courts and a few sentencing guidelines. Race also is a factor in the juvenile justice system. There are many more aspects of the juvenile justice system, but this is a little descriptive taste of what goes on. Juvenile offenders have been treated differently from ... adults for around six hundred years. In the late Fourteenth century, English common law saw the defense of immaturity. In other words they had a guide ... not center on an...

  • Word Count: 1444
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography

6. California and the Juvenile Crime Initiative

... play a role in California's juvenile justice system, including schools, mental health, social services, and community based organizations. The juvenile justice system gives police, probation officers, and prosecutors broad discretion over the treatment of juvenile offenders. Following arrest, the police can release the minor to his/her parents, or take them to juvenile hall. The probation department, which oversees the juvenile hall, can decide to release the minor, or the probation department or the district attorney can file a petition ... , which is similar to filing charges in the ad...

  • Word Count: 2063
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Ethical Analysis of Juvenile Waivers

... be said for the juvenile waiver process in the juvenile court system. A juvenile waiver is the procedure of transferring, or "waiving " a juvenile offender from juvenile jurisdiction up to the criminal adult jurisdiction within the court system. There are both benefits and drawbacks for staying within the juvenile jurisdiction. It is this policy of the juvenile waiver that will be examined on whether it is ethical or unethical. When the Juvenile Justice System was created in the nineteenth century the idea was to ... a side effect of a policy that is more beneficial to society than the ...

  • Word Count: 3373
  • Approx Pages: 13
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND THE SYSTEM

... I. Introduction ..3 II. History of the Juvenile Justice System ." ..4-5 III. The Juvenile Justice Process ."..6-7 IV. Similarities Between Juvenile Process and Adult Process ..."7-8 V. Juvenile's Legal Rights ." .8-9 VI. Juvenile Probation .10-11 VII. Juvenile Institutions ."..11 VIII. Statistics ..12 IX. Conclusion ..13 X. Work Cited .14 Introduction Juvenile Justice can have two possible meanings. One, it can be referred to as the standard way meaning a justice system pertaining to juveniles and the other, a tad sarcastic, the so-called justice, applies to juveniles that ... old never...

  • Word Count: 2997
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Juvenile Delinquency

... and implementation of programs with the greatest potential for reducing juvenile delinquency and improving the juvenile justice system. To that end, OJJDP has set three goals that constitute the major elements of a sound policy that assures public safety and security, while establishing effective juvenile justice and delinquency prevention programs. To promote delinquency prevention and early intervention efforts that reduce the numbers of juvenile offenders entering the juvenile justice system, the numbers of serious and violent offenders ... , and the development of chronic delinquent ...

  • Word Count: 2822
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Graduate

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