The Progressive movement introduced positivism; which was the effort to identify the various factors that cause crime and deviance. Progressive criminal justice reformed by placing criminal behavior to external forces rather than to an intentional choice. Which reduced the criminal's moral responsibility for a crime and focused on reform of the person instead of punishment (Feld, 6).
The juvenile court movement attempted to take the children out of the adult criminal justice and corrections system, and provide them with personal help in a separate system (Feld, 6). The first juvenile court opened in Chicago in 1899, and was based on the doctrine of parens patriae (Myers 12). Parens patriae means that the state is responsible for the children who couldn't care for themselves and whose parents didn't want to or couldn't care for them (Feld, 7) Early juvenile courts stressed a relaxed and safe environment (Myers, 13). These courts were here to give individualized judgments, and to prevent future lives of crime for youths (Feld, 7). Juvenile courts were designed to conclude if a child was in need of care. Giving youths direction and reforming the individual was their main goal, not punishment (Myers, 13).
The Juvenile Courts give loads of optimism that it could solve the problem of juvenile delinquencies. By 1925 all but two states had a juvenile court system of some kind, and by 1945 every state in the union had a juvenile court (Myers, 14).
Juvenile arrest rates have increased by 75% from 1985 through 1994 (Myers, 19). But nearly 70% of all juvenile arrests came from non-index crimes (Myers, 18). Juvenile arrest rates for robbery and aggravated assault has risen, and even youth homicide has risen at an alarming rate (Myers 19). Due to the rise in youth violence, the juvenile court system has taken a more punitive approach to deal with it (Myers, 19). Variations of minimum and maximum ages are different from state to state, but all states have provisions that let them try juveniles in adult courts (Myers, 21).
