Overview of Juvenile Justice

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Overview of Juvenile Justice

• CRIM 309

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Overview of the Juvenile Justice System

• The JJS is a relatively new systemthe first
  juvenile court was established in 1899
• The JJS was created to address criminal and
  problem behaviors among children between the ages
  of (approx.) 10 to 18
• Criminal offenses (aka delinquency)
• Status offenses
• Abuse/neglect cases

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Basis of the JJS

• Different levels of culpability (I.e.,
  responsibility) of adolescents compared to adults
  served as the basis of the JJS
• Childhood was created in the early 19th century
  and stages of childhood, specifically adolescence
  was defined shortly afterward
• Developmentally distinguished adolescents from
  adults emotionally, psychologically, and
  physically
• Supported the notion that (1) adolescents were
  less culpable than adults, and (2) adolescents
  were more amenable to change than adults

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Are Adolescents Different from Adults?

• Increasingly, research demonstrates that
  adolescents are not little adults
• Adolescence is a period of intense physical,
  emotional, and cognitive development
• Forced to make choices under the worst conditions
• Exposed to highly risky situations
• Often overestimate their understanding of a
  situation while underestimating the consequences
  of their actions
• Further complicated when youths live in
  disadvantaged, high risk environments
• Perhaps most important for this discussion is the
  fact that adolescents process emotionally
  charged information from a more reactive,
  gut-level place than adults

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JJS v. CJS

• The JJS was purposely developed as a different
  system from the adult criminal justice system
  (CJS)
• The JJS recognized the need for different
  responses and emphasized rehabilitation over
  punishment
• JJS differs significantly from the the CJS
• Informal proceedings
• Confidential
• Less adversarial
• Different responses, with an emphasis on
  treatment

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Juvenile v. Adult Justice Systems
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History of the Juvenile Court
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Prior to Juvenile Court

• Prior to 19th century, children were either
  viewed as
• Not culpable for crime (ages lt7)
• As responsible and subject to the same penalties
  as adults
• 19th centuryIntroduction of childhood and
  recognition of developmental differences between
  children and adults
• Efforts were made by reformers to remove
  juveniles from criminal court and treat them
  differently from adults using legal precedent of
  parens patriae

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Reformers and the Juvenile Court

• 19th Century time of drastic change as a result
  of industrialization and high rates of
  immigration
• Wealthy and middle class develops and turns its
  attention to social ills of the nation
• Child-SaversMC/W women who took on a variety of
  social issues
• Progressive Reformersgrowing intelligentsia that
  wanted to reduce social problems with the
  creation of professional organizations

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Reforming the System

• Reformers focused on evils of urbanization and
  poor upbringingfamily was at the center of their
  criticism and a target for their efforts
• Benevolent Reform turns into bias
• Class, Race, Gender Bias
• Utilize the legal precedent of parens patriae to
  justify work in many areas related to children
• Parens Patriaeprovides state the right to
  intervene in the best interest of a person
• This precedent is critical to all reforms,
  including juvenile justice, compulsory education,
  and child labor

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Origins of Juvenile Court

• House of Refuge 1825
• Concerns regarding this development led to court
  cases
• Ex Parte Crouse, 1835upheld parens patriae
• People v. Turner, 1860struck parens patriae down
• Response Cottage House Systems and
  reformatories-mid 1800s
• Placing Outsending juveniles west
• Each of these institutions were an attempt to
• Separate juveniles from adults
• Provide treatment to prevent youths from
  adopting a life of crime

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Purpose of the New Response

• Differential treatment of juveniles (from adults)
  was intended to save juveniles from
  themselvessalvage their souls
• Treatment in these institutions translated to
  vocational skills training and religious training
• Based on stereotypes and role expectations of the
  time
• Juveniles in these institutions were largely
  poor, immigrant, and female
• Black youths were often processed by and placed
  in adult system. When allowed into the juvenile
  system, these youths were segregated from Whites
  and given custodial types of tasks

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Creation of the Juvenile Court

• Concern over legal challenges led reformers to
  seek permanent placement of juvenile court in
  law,culminating in the creation of the first
  juvenile court---1899 in Cook County, Illinois
• Created legal categories and jurisdiction for
  juvenile delinquency, status offending, and
  abuse/neglect
• System was separate from adult court in theory
  and practice
• By 1925, all states except Maine and Wyoming had
  functioning juvenile courts

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Evolution of Juvenile Justice

• 1905 Commonwealth v. Fisher
• Brought legal question once again to parens
  patriae
• Court upheld legal doctrine and creation of
  separate legal jurisdiction for juvenile
  delinquents, status offenders, and
  abused/neglected youth
• Legitimacy not questioned again until the 1960s

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Juvenile Justice in 20th Century

• 60s Legal/court reform
• Kent v. United States, 1966
• Hearings required for transfer to adult court
• In Re Gault, 1967
• Representation for all offenders who face
  institutionalization
• In Re Winship, 1970
• Standard of proof, beyond a reasonable doubt,
  required
• Breed v. Jones, 1975
• Protection against double jeopardy
• McKeiver v. Pennsylvania, 1971
• Rejected access to jury trial

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20th Century Continued

• 70s Federal reform
• Focus on prevention and concern over status
  offenders
• Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act
• Federal Act that
• Prohibited placement of status offenders in
  secure facilities
• Required sight and separation of juveniles and
  adults in detention and correctional facilities
• Removal of juveniles from adult jails and lockups
• Voluntary compliance but connected to funding
• Reauthorization by Congress in 1988 required
  states to examine over representation of
  minorities in secure confinment

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20th Century Continued

• 80s Crime Control Policies
• Increase in facility use
• Increase waivers
• Increase in statutory limitations
• Death penalty
• New ways of sentencing
• 90s Distinguishing Offenders
• 2000 Punitive mixed with integrating sanctions
  and rehabilitation restorative justice

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Juvenile Justice In Context

• Creates a contradiction between our social
  policies related to children and adolescents and
  our treatment of children and adolescents who
  break the law
• Assumption that the nature of adolescence is to
  face ambiguous decisions and learn appropriate
  behaviors/choice-making
• Social policies reflect the lack of maturity and
  skills to make certain decisions
• Criminal justice policies reject many of these
  notions and put juvenile offenders on same level
  as adult offenders
• Complicated further by the fact that adolescence
  is the highest period of criminal activity

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Structure of the Juvenile Justice System
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Contemporary Juvenile Court Structure

• Juvenile justice is state-based there is no
  federal juvenile justice system
• The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
  Prevention provides guidance on policy and
  resources for program development, but it has no
  authority over juvenile justice systems operating
  in any state
• Juvenile courts may be located organizationally
  as general jurisdiction courts, special
  jurisdiction courts, or limited jurisdiction
  courts
• Extent to which juvenile courts have jurisdiction
  in all matters involving juveniles varies by state

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The Juvenile Justice System
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1st Step in the JJ Process Arrest/Referral

• Juveniles can enter the jjs through
• Parent referrals
• School referrals
• Social service referrals
• Police referrals
• Police are responsible for the majority of
  referrals to the juvenile justice system

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Policing and Juveniles

• Juveniles are responsible for a lot of police
  contacts
• Nature of Police-Juvenile Encounters
• Often difficult
• Developmental differences and lack of training
• Hostile behavior
• Officer response can significantly impact result
• Role conflictwhat is their role

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Police Organization of Juvenile Work

• Depends on the size of the police department, the
  community, amount quality of resources
  available, and policing philosophy of department
• Special units-officers specially trained
• Special units are more likely to exist in large,
  urban areas. Smaller areas are less likely to
  have specialized juvenile officers

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Police and the Law

• Police have more latitude in handling juveniles
• Charging decisions
• Ability to detain
• If juvenile is charged as an adult, he/she is
  entitled to full due process
• If juvenile is taken into custody as a juvenile,
  police act in the role of parents and have more
  control over what happens to the youth

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Police Discretion

• DiscretionUse of personal decision-making and
  choice in carrying out operations in the justice
  system (I.e., deciding whether to arrest)
• Discretion applies to all processing stages of
  the juvenile and adult justice systems
• Particularly large amount of discretion used in
  the case of juveniles
• Informality and individualized treatment lends
  itself to discretion

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Impact of Discretion

• Discretion can keep offenders out of the
  system--have significant impact of who enters the
  system and who does not
• Discretion can increase chance of being placed in
  the system
• Discretion can deteriorate into discrimination
  and other abuses
• Personal, environmental, departmental, and
  situational factors impact the extent to which
  discretion plays a role in processing juveniles
  into the juvenile justice system

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2nd Stage of the JJ Process Detention

• Police decide whether to detain an offender or
  release him/her to parents
• Intake officer determines whether the placement
  is necessary (using a risk tool)
• Offenders can be detained for their own safety or
  the safety of the communityno bond. Must be
  released by prosecutor or order of the judge
• Many negative consequences to detentionefforts
  growing to build alternatives
• Types Shelter, Staff-Secure, Secure
• Detention can be used at any time in the process

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3rd Stage of the JJ Process Charging

• In some states, Prosecutor decides how to charge
  the casedecision is based on state statute
  around juvenile court jurisdiction and waivers to
  adult court
• Also has the option to not charge or offer
  diversion to an offender
• The diversion option allows the offender to avoid
  processing if they complete the diversion program
  successfully
• In other states, Juvenile Court Intake makes the
  decision to informally handle or formally handle
• Decision is then sent to the Prosecutor
• Diversion is also possible at this point

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Transferring Cases to the Adult Court

• Case may be waived to adult court by a judge
  prior to adjudication
• Judicial waiver
• Hearing to determine whether case warrants
  transfer to the adult court
• In some states, case may also be charged directly
  in adult court by a prosecutor
• Prosecutorial waiver
• No hearing defense can file a reverse waiver to
  transfer the case to juvenile court
• In most states, legislatures have mandated that
  certain cases be automatically processed in adult
  courtstatutory exclusion

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4th Stage of JJ Process Adjudication

• Formal Processing
• Arraignment Hearing
• Charges read in court
• Need for Representation Assessed
• If represented, type of responsibility is entered
• If responsible?case goes to disposition
• If not responsible?case goes to adjudication
  hearing (I.e., trial)
• If responsible?case goes to disposition
• If not responsible?case is dismissed
• Plea bargaining occurs during these stages

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5th Stage of JJ Process Assessment

• Pre-disposition assessments
• Thorough evaluations of juveniles risk and need
  levels
• Judge orders at adjudication hearing
• Report completed and returned to judge prior to
  the disposition
• Report contains recommendations to the judge on
  what type of disposition the offender should
  receive

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Content of Pre-Disposition Assessment

• This stage may include any or all of the
  following
• Individual factors previous jj experience,
  peers, living situation, etc.
• Family factors occupations, living situation,
  history of abuse/neglect, relationships, etc.
• School factors attendance, performance, behavior
• Also provides the opportunity for
• 1. Substance abuse screening
• 2. Mental health screening
• 3. Risk Assessment
• 4. Referral for further assessment (SA, MH,
  medical, family, etc.)

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6th Stage in JJ Process Disposition

• Disposition Hearing (Sentence)
• Judge reviews pre-disposition materials (if
  available) and decides on the following options
• Probation Supervision in the community
• Different levels
• May include placement in camp or detention
  facility
• State Custody Out-of-Home Placement
• Different types of placements
• Parole and Aftercare
• Blended Sentencing Combination of juvenile and
  adult sentencing

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Probation

• Traditional Supervision (Low, Medium, and High)
• Intensive Supervision (High Only)
• Drug Courts
• Camps
• Probation has conditions that can include
  curfews, treatment, family counseling, etc.

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State Custody

• Foster/Group Homes
• Correctional Facility
• Treatment Facility Placements
• Parole
• Aftercare Programming

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Caveats to JJ Process

• Offender placed on probation who violates the
  conditions of that order, can return to court and
  be moved into state custody
• Offender place in state custody who makes parole
  and violates the conditions of parole, can return
  to court and to an institution