THEME 6 – Juvenile Justice

 Key readings
Chapter 15 of Siegel, L.L. & Worrall, J.J. (2014).
Introduction to Criminal Justice. Wadsworth,
Cengage Learning: Australia.

 Learning objectives
 Describe the police processing of the juvenile

offender
 Discuss the juvenile court process

 Critically discuss the juvenile correction

process
 History of juvenile justice
2

 Poor laws and chancery courts set the precedent

for later American developments
 Poor laws – mandated the appointment of
overseers who placed destitute or neglected
children with families who then trained them in
agricultural, trade, or domestic services – indenture
 Chancery courts – protected the property rights and
welfare of more affluent minor children who could
not care for themselves
 Parens patriae – children were under the protective
control of the state, “best interest of the child”
3

 Child savers – began to develop organizations and

groups to help alleviate the burdens of the poor and
immigrants by sponsoring shelter care for youths,
educational and social activities, and the
development of settlement houses
 Main focus – extend government control over a
range of youthful activities that had been left to
private or family control
 Responsible for creating a number of programs for
indigent youths – prevention of pauperism
 Reformatory opened in 1825
 Critics
4

 1826 – House of Reformation for juvenile offenders

 Courts committed children found guilty
 Child savers believed the parents of the delinquent
children to be as guilty as convicted offenders, the
reform schools should assume control over the children
 Influenced state and local governments to create
independent correctional institutions to house minors
 Brace developed the Children’s aid society – alternative
for dealing with neglected and delinquent youths
 Placement of children in private homes in rural
communities
 Establishment of the
5
juvenile court
 Child savers lobbied for an independent,
state-supported juvenile court
 Promoted the development of the first
comprehensive juvenile court in Illinois in
1899
 The Illinois juvenile court act set up an
independent court to handle criminal law
violations by children under 16 years
 Provided youths with quasi-legal, quasi-
therapeutic, personalized justice
6

Juvenile terms Adult terms

 Delinquent child  Criminal

 Take into custody  Arrest
 Petition  Indictment
 Agree to findings  Plead guilty
 Deny petition  plead not guilty
 Detention facility;  Jail
child-care shelter  Trial/sentencing
 Adjudication hearing
 Reform schools
7

 Training school
 Aimed at punishment – based in concept of reform
through hard work and discipline
 Second half of the nineteenth century emphasis
shifted from massive industrial schools to the
cottage system
 Housed in a series of small cabins – holding 20 to 40
children
 1950s – introduction of psychological treatment in
juvenile corrections
 Group counselling techniques became standard
procedure
 Juvenile justice 1960-1980
8
 U.S supreme court altered the juvenile justice system
 Established the right of juveniles to due process of law
 Court ruled that juveniles had the same rights as adults in
important areas of trial process – right to confront witnesses,
notice of charges, and the rights to counsel
 Congress passed the juvenile justice and delinquency prevention
act of 1974
 Enacted to identify the needs of youths and to fund programs in
the juvenile justice system
 Insulate juveniles from contact with more dangerous and/or
older offenders
 Status offenders
 The deinstitutionalization of status offenders and nonoffenders
provision mandated that juveniles not charged with conduct that
would be crimes for adults shall not be placed in secure
detention facilities or secure correctional facilities
 Juvenile justice 1980-2000
9

 Public concerns helped reshape the philosophy

of the juvenile justice system
 Media frenzy helped fuel legislative change
 Some state gave prosecutors greater discretion
to prosecute
 Some states increased the length and severity
of sentences
 Victims rights movement invaded the juvenile
justice system
 Justice system modified to look and act more
like the adult system
 Juvenile justice today
10

Delinquents Status
offenders
Juvenile delinquency –
Commits acts forbidden to
refers to children who
minors, which include
fall under a jurisdictional
truancy and being a
age limit, who commit
habitually disobedient and
can act in violation of
ungovernable child
the penal code

 Reduce the effect of any stigma on children

 New juvenile court
11
structures
 Teen courts – involve juveniles age 10-15
with no prior arrest records who are
being charged with minor law violations
 Drug courts – hear cases involving
substance abuse and trafficking in which
a minor is involved
 Police processing in the juvenile offender
12

 Large police departments have detective

who handle only juvenile delinquency
cases and focus their attention on the
problems of youth
 Typically take control of cases after an
arrest is made by a uniformed officer
 Statutory provisions distinguish the
arrest process for children from that of
adults
 Police departments also engage in
delinquency prevention efforts
 Use of discretion
13

 Police charged with deciding whether to release or to detain

the child and refer him/her to juvenile court
 Police have more discretion in juvenile process than they do
when dealing with adult offenders
 Based on nature of offense and police attitudes and the
child’s social and personal conditions at the time of the
arrest:
 The type and seriousness of the child’s offense
 The ability of the parents to be assistance in disciplining the child
 The child’s past contacts with police
 The degree of cooperation obtained from the child and parents
and their demeanor, attitude, and personal characteristics
 Whether the child denies the allegations in the petition and
insists on a court hearing
14

 Cases involving a juvenile demand that the

officer consider the “best interest of the
child” and how the officer’s actions will
influence the child’s future well-being
 Police more willing to arrest juveniles if they
perceive the youths are in need of services
 66 % of juveniles are now being referred to
juvenile court for treatments and supervision
 More cautious and more willing to refer them
to juvenile court services
 Legal rights of juveniles in
15
custody
 Police must be careful that the juvenile
suspect understands his/her
constitutional rights
 Must provide access to a parent or
guardian to protect the child’s legal
interests
 Miranda rights apply to juvenile suspects
 Age does not matter and greater care
must be taken by the police when
questioning children in their custody
 Police investigation in the school setting
16

 Referred to as school resource officers

 Raises the question of the legal rights of
students in the educational environment
 Issue of student privacy
 New Jersey v T.L.O (1985) held that a school
official had the authority to search a student’s
purse even though no warrant had been issued
 Searching for drugs – school responsibility for
children cannot be disregarded, it will not be
unreasonable to search students for evidence of
drug usage – students have a limited
expectation of privacy
 The juvenile court process
17

 After the police have determined that a

case warrants further attention, they
bind it over to the prosecutor’s office,
which then is responsible for channeling
the case through the juvenile court
 Cases may be petitioned to the court
from other than law enforcement
sources
 Juvenile court plays a major role in
controlling juvenile behaviour and
delivering social services to children in
 The intake process
18

 Remanded – review and screen – report

 Represents an opportunity to place a
child in informal programs
 More than half of the referrals to the
juvenile courts never go beyond this
stage
 The detention process
19

 Prosecutor decides whether to release

child or to detain the child
 Juvenile justice act of 1974 emphasized
reducing the number of children placed
in inappropriate detention facilities
 Detention decision may reflect a child’s
personal characteristics and the quality
of home life
 Detention is widely misapplied
 Legal issues
20

 The child has a right to counsel and may be given

other procedural due process safeguards, notable
the privilege against self-incrimination and the
right to confront and cross-examine witnesses
 Criteria to support a decision to detain the child
 The need to protect the child
 Whether the child present a serious danger to the
public
 The likelihood that the juvenile will return to court for
adjudication
 Juvenile may be detained for their protection
 Reforming detention
21

 Successful effort to remove status

offenders from lockups containing
delinquents
 Status offenders be placed in nonsecure
shelters
 Problem – detention of youths in adult
jails
 Bail
22

 If a child is not detained, the question of

bail arises
 Money bail
 Release to parents
 Plea bargaining
23

 Prosecutors may attempt to negotiate a

settlements to the case
 If a bargain can be reached, the child will be
asked to admit in open court
 Use of other terminology – agree to a finding,
accept the petition rather than admit guilt
 Procedural safeguards – right to trial, the
plea or admission must be made voluntarily,
and the child must understand the charges
and the consequences of the plea
 Waiver of jurisdiction
24

 Certain forms of conduct require that

children be tried as adults
 Waiver or transfer of juvenile offenders to
the criminal courts
 Forms of waiver
 Direct file waiver
 Excluded offense waiver
 Judicial waiver
 Reverse waiver
 Blended sentencing laws
 The effect of waiver
25

 Enmeshed in the daily life of an adult

correctional facility
 Miss out on being housed in juvenile facilities
 Lose out on developing the more supportive,
mentoring-focused style of staff-inmate
interaction
 Exposed to experiences criminals
 Risks
 Sexual assault
 Suicide
 Damage to communities and public safety
 Adjudication
26

 Initial appearance – similar to the arraignment

in the adult system
 Child informed of the charges against him,
attorneys are appoints, bail is reviewed, and
in many instances cases are settled with an
admission of the facts, followed by a
community sentence
 If cannot be settled at this initial stage, it is
bound over trial
 Adjudicatory or trial process (fact-finding
hearing) – court hears all evidence
27

 Case of Gault – granted critical rights to

juveniles defendants
 Rights to counsel
 Right to confront and cross examine
witnessess
 Privilege against self-incrimination
 Right to a transcript of the trial record
 Disposition and treatment
28

 Based on offense
 Prior record
 Family background
 Judge has broad discretionary power – dismissal or
institutional commitment
 Represents opportunity for court to influence the child
and control behaviour
 Separate hearing to formulate appropriate disposition
 Adjudicatory hearing solely to determine the merits of
the allegations
 Dispositional hearing – whether the child is in need of
rehabilitation
29

 Individualised treatment
 Based on presentence investigation
 Judge has broad discretion
 Typical juvenile court dispositions
 Suspended judgement
 Probation
 Placement in a community treatment
program
 Commitment to the state agency
responsible for juvenile institutional care
 The juvenile correctional
30
process
 Probation
 Placing a child under the supervision of the juvenile
probation department for purposes of community
treatment
 Follow special rules
 Alternative sanctions such as community service or
monetary restitution may be ordered
 Serious offenders may be placed in intensive
supervision or under house arrest
 Probation can be revoked
 Most widely used method of community treatment
 Combines elements of treatment and control
31

 Juvenile Intensive probation supervision

(JIPS)
 Treating offenders as part of a very small
probation caseload
 Goal is decarceration
 2nd goal is control
 3rd goal is maintaining community ties and
reintegration
 Receives mixed reviews
32

 Institutionalization
 Commitment of the child to an institution
 Detention centers, juvenile halls...
 Resemble adult prisons or houses
 Length of child’s commitment vary
 Deprived the child of freedom for an
extensive period
33

 Deinstitutionalization
 Question policy on institutionalizing juvenile
offenders
 Too costly and produce more sophisticated
criminals
 Removing as many youths from secure
confinement as possible
 Does little to deter criminal behaviour
34

 After care
 Purpose is to help youths make the transition from
residential or institutional settings back into the
community
 Provide adequate supervision and support services
 Counselling, treatment...
 Intensive aftercare program (IAP)
 Prepare youths for progressively increases responsibility
 Facilitating youth
 Working with both offender and targeted community
support systems
 Developing new resources
 Monitoring and testing the youths and community
35

 Preventing delinquency
 Consists of intervening in young people’s lives
before they engage in delinquency
 Past programs – treatment oriented agencies
 Today – combination of juvenile justice and
treatment agencies
 Educational experience and attempt to help
kids maintain their bond to society by
strengthening their attachments to school
 Help kids prepare for the adult workforce
 Conducted by social workers
36

 Comprehensive community-based
delinquency prevention programs
 Systematic approach or apply a comprehensive
planning model to develop interventions
 Analysing the delinquency problems
 Identifying resources available in the
community
 Prioritizing the delinquency problems
 Becoming familiar with successful programs in
other communities
 Tailoring them to local conditions and needs