A History of the Juvenile Justice System

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A History of the Juvenile Justice System

• The Nutshell Version, Anyhow

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Two Central Issues

• Why should kids who commit crimes be treated any
  differently than adults?
• At what age does a kid cease to become a kid?
• If kids should be treated differently, how should
  they be treated?

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Pre-Middle Ages

• Code of Hammurabi (2270 b.c.)
• Other Examples
• Roman civil and church law
• Ancient Jewish and Moslem laws

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Middle Ages (500-1500ad)

• Roman criminal law codified in the Twelve
  Tables
• Eventually, under the Justinian Code
• 0-7 Years not criminally responsible
• 7-12/14 know right from wrong?
• gt12/14 adult
• English common law emerges (1000-1100ad)
• Early common law too young for punishment
• By 1500s, common law adopts scheme similar to
  Justinian code

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Middle Ages II

• English Common Law
• 0 to 7 not criminally responsible
• 7-14 burden on state to demonstrate that the
  child
• Formed criminal intent
• Understood consequences of their actions
• Knew right from wrong
• Concept of Parens Patriae develops
• Civil law, King as parent of country

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England 1500-1700

• Statute of Artificers (1562) and Poor Laws (1602)
• Children of paupers apprenticed
• Punishment of criminal children still similar to
  adults
• Corporal/public, banishment, galley slavery
• Bridewell Workhouse (London, 1557)
• Precursor to prisons, idea reform through
  labor
• Mostly for idle/disorderly

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Colonial America

• Until the late 1700s?English Common Law
• Prison uncommon, many children found innocent
  to spare them corporal punishment

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U.S. 1775-1825

• The Industrial Revolution
• The Birth of the Penitentiary
• Gentleman Reformers
• Result of these trends Houses of Refuge
• Ex Parte Crouse (1839)
• And later, Industrial and Reform schools
• People ex rel. OConnell V. Turner (1870)

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The Child Saving Movement

• Child Savers disgruntled with child prisons
• Deep mistrust of the city and immigrants
• Advocated rural Cottage Style housing
• Helped to place out city kids to farm families

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Progressive Era (1900-1930)

• The Progressives
• Optimists Faith in Government
• General sanitation, poverty, unsafe labor
• Juveniles compulsory education, helped shape
  juvenile justice system

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The Juvenile Court Movement

• First Juvenile Court in Illinois (1899)
• Quasi-civil nature of court
• Parens Patriae act in best interest of child
  using non-criminal procedures
• No special wrong necessary
• Characteristics
• Informal, closed proceedings with sealed records
• Medical model of diagnosing social ills
• Age 15 years and younger
• Probation Officers to investigate and
  rehabilitate

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J.C. Spreads (1900-1950)
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Innovation and Stability

• Juvenile Courts Spread, but differences emerged
• Some states require procedures similar to
  criminal court, others courts grant judge
  complete discretion to follow conscience
• Discretion/Informality becomes key issue
• Good?
• Bad?
• By the 1950s, many juvenile courts are
  bureaucratic and burdened

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Winds of Change 1960-1975

• Social Context of this Period Crucial
• Viet Nam, Kent State, Attica, Watergate
• Increase in crime, divorce, single parents
• Youth flaunting morals of prior generation
• Ideological Responses
• Conservatives?
• Liberals/Progressives?

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Strange Bedfellows

• Conservatives and Liberals largely agree on
  policy Issues
• In both adult and juvenile system, discretion
  should be limited
• Juveniles should be granted due process rights
• Differences?
• Conservatives ? treat juveniles more like adults,
  punishment works
• Liberals ? most juveniles should be diverted from
  the system, short sentences for those that arent

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Constitutional Domestication

• Kent vs. United States (1961)
• In Re Gault (1967)
• In Re Winship (1970)
• Breed v. Jones (1975)
• Justice Stewarts Dissent Opinion in Gault

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From Cox et. al (Your Book)

• Legalists
• Case Workers (Social Work)

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OJJDP and DSO

• 1967 President Johnsons Commission on Law
  Enforcement and Administration of Justice.
• 1974 Congress enacts Juveniel Justice and
  Delinquency Prevention Act.
• Creation of OJJDP
• Decriminalization, Deinstitutionalization,
  elimination of court authority over status
  offenders
• Mass. deinstitutionalization experiment

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Getting Tough 1980-2000

• Backlash against diversion, labeling theory
• Political Rhetoric get tough on juveniles
• National war on drugs
• 1984 National Advisory Committee for Juvenile
  Justice Delinquency and Prevention

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How have we gotten tough?

• Legislative Policy
• Juvenile Wavier, Statutory Exclusion
• Lower upper age limit of jurisdiction
• Sentencing (Blended, mandatory minimum)
• Confidentiality, records in adult courts
• Types of Punishment
• Boot Camps, ISP, Electronic Monitoring

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Where is policy now

• Crime in general is not high profile issue
• OJJDP 1993 Comprehensive Strategy
• Barry Felds Criminological triage

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Research For Debates and Papers

• I Expect evidence from academic sources
• Journal articles, academic books
• Searching for articles/books
• Get references from books or articles
• Government reports (OJJDP, NCJRS)
• Search
• Criminal Justice Abstracts
• Sage journals search (full text)
• Journal of Crime and Delinquency (full text)