Juvenile Justice in America

1. Juvenile Justice in America SOC 106 Part 11: Delinquency Prevention and Juvenile Justice Today

2. Delinquency Prevention - control or repression a. Public health approach - primary: preventing disease / injuries - secondary: risk for offending - tertiary: work with adjudicated offenders b. Early prevention - influencing “risk factors” - cognitive development / child skills training / family support - home based programs

3. (1) Improve parenting skills - develop a closeness - effective intervention (2) Parent training c. Preschool - ages 3 to 5 - higher rate of high school completion - more years of education - lower school dropout rate 2. Delinquency prevention in teenage years

4. a. Mentoring - nonprofessional volunteers - young people at risk - supportive / non-judmental - role model b. Methods for delinquency prevention (1) School programs - critical social context (2) Engaging parents - reduce negative peer influence

5. (3) Job training - improve chances - Job Corps - YouthBuild U.S.A. (4). Juvenile Justice Today - justice process - crime occurs (a) Police involvement - investigation - juvenile contact

6. (b) Police discretion - verbal / report / arrest (c) Minorities over-represented - police target (d) System too lenient - parents - diversion (5) Responsible for all children - missing / runaway / delinquent

7. (a) Preventive measures - DARE / GREAT / SRO (b) Community involvement - truancy enforcement - “Neutral Zone” b. Courts - judge / prosecutor / defense / probation (1) Juvenile court - separate system / superior court

8. (a) Civil / criminal - civil court system (b) Bound by court rules - by statute (c) Variety of legal matters - more extensive (d) Civil in nature - evolving into adversarial - adult court

9. (e) Major differences - no jury / guardian ad litem - court terminology (2) Jurisdiction - 18 years of age (a) Probation - 21 years of age (b) Loss of jurisdiction - violent offender

10. c. Corrections - GHC Juvenile Detention Center - Dept. of Juvenile Rehabilitation (DSHS) (1) Function: - protect public - remove offenders (a) Dual function - hold accountable - provide: education / training / personal life skills

11. (2) Probation - common disposition (a) Back into community - restrictions (b) Local time - no time (3) Parole - state facility - serve time

12. The system a. First contact: police (1) 72% calls for service - crime-in-progress - already committed (2) 28% observed by police - patrol - task force - sting operation

13. b. Police on scene - initiate arrest - begin investigation (1) Officer discretion - crime (a) Verbal warning / release (b) Refer to prosecutor - report - evidence

14. (c) Release with warning - parents / other adult - take home / pickup (d) Arrest - to station - advise rights - interview - release / detention (2) Police process - most: no written policy

15. - up to officer (a) 18 + - issue citation / release - not juveniles = arrest / release (b) “Mind-set” of officer - teach lesson - lock up - no services (c) Statistics show:

16. - majority: informal disposition - 55%: community resources (deferred) - 45%: court referral (3) Detention process - held = detention hearing - release by probation (4) Court process - show cause hearing - fact finding hearing

17. (5) Dispositional hearing - state / local time - probation Historical / Philosophical Roots • Integrated network - agencies / personnel a. Not system = process - not smooth flow - antagonism / conflict / differing opinions

18. (1) Juvenile network - processed through (a) Various public / private agencies - law enforcement - court (prosecutor / defense) - corrections - community-based programs (b) Reasons for conflict - police - enforcement / detention

19. - charges filed (c) Probation - release home - recommend lesser charge (d) Prosecution - refuse to charge - lesser charge / divert (e) Judge - release juvenile

20. - no time (f) Corrections - punishment oriented - social service oriented - ignore actions (g) Community-based programs - different perspectives - social / psychological intervention - family intervention - education / work programs

21. b. Juvenile process - different state to state - philosophy / laws / action taken (1) Agencies vary - Department of Corrections - Department of Juvenile Services - Department of Juvenile Rehabilitation - Department of Social Services - Department of Family Services (2) 1990s: society turns hostile

22. (a) No longer: “wayward youth” - “errant troublemaker” (b) Do not look at reason - one-parent family - educational failure - no employment (2) View as: - serious deviants (a) World of adult criminal - violent / well-armed / gangster

23. (b) Do what they want - don’t care (3) Justice system response: - more police / institutions / treatment / prevention (a) Laws passed - no smoking laws - “Becca Bill” - truancy - curfew

24. (b) Violent offender: age 16 / 17 - tried as adult • History of juvenile justice a. Code of Hammurabi - 4000 years ago (1) Babylonian king - written laws - control actions: adult / juvenile - “Lex Talionis”: an eye for an eye

25. (b) Ancients: youth problems - runaways - disown parents (2) 2000 years ago - Greeks / Romans: written law - control masses (a) Roman law - distinguished juveniles / adults - age of responsibility - before age 7 / not accountable

26. (b) Civil / canon law - civil: criminal law - canon: church law (c) Major influence on world’s legal system - English law - American law (3) 800 years ago: British Common law (a) Common practice used by judges

27. - written down - other / future judges know (b) Replaced civil / canon laws - Henry VIII - divorce / re-marry (c) Distinction between adult / juvenile - under 7: incapable of intent - 7 through 14: had to prove - know right from wrong - form intent

28. (d) Parens patriae - king: father of all children (4) American juvenile system - similar to English law (a) Age - up to 7 years not form intent - 7 to 12 years: had to prove - 12 and older: could form intent (b) Parens patriae

29. - state assumed responsibility - enter home / take child - foster care / adoption b. History of juvenile institutions - 1500s, London: crime was rampant - crime up / juvenile gangs (1) Treated youth as adults - police / courts / corrections (a) Adults courts: try youth

30. (b) Punishment included: - workhouses / apprenticeships - debtor prisons / banishment - torture / death / removal (2) 1600: changes began to occur - educated class (a) Segregating youth - courts and corrections (b) Kept confidential

31. - avoid shame / stigmatization (c) 1788: separate institutions - “educate and instruct in some useful trade” (d) Causes of delinquency - poverty / lack of education - poor parental guidance • Early American juvenile justice - handled similar to adults

32. - stocks / prison / banishment / death - indentured servants / military enlistment a. Treated worse other countries - enslaved labor - military service (1) US criticizes - teenagers off to war - Viet Nam (17 yrs / permission) (2) Age of 18 years

33. - go to war - in adult court - credit cards (a) Cannot legally drink - too immature b. Early 1700s - American colonies (1) Hundreds of juveniles imprisoned - minor acts / major crimes

34. - disobeying parents / way dressed - criminal acts (a) Adults / juveniles / male / female - all locked up together (b) Treated same in courts / jails - very severely (c) Mid to late 1700s - juvenile gangs - poverty / education / parentless

35. (2) Early to mid-1800s - juvenile crime continued (a) Public concern growing - justice system trying to solve problem (b) Industrial Revolution - poor / delinquent youth to work (c) Agrarian Work Ethic - sent to work on farms

36. - solve problem - out of city - farmers: free labor - would learn to change ways (d) Did not solve problem - youth ran away - rural crime rates increased (e) Today: Job Corp (3) Juvenile institutions developed

37. - deal better with juvenile crime (a) House of Refuge (1825) - New York City (b) Reform School (1845) - Massachusetts (c) Oriented to education / treatment - moving away from punishment (d) Majority were ‘status offenders’

38. (4) Start of reform / refuge movement - leased out to businesses - learning a trade (a) System failed - crime continued - incorrigibility increased (b) Police / courts / jails failed - did not rehabilitate c. 1860s: reform/refuge institutions

39. - developed across country / failing (1) By 1875: - most states followed Massachusetts - moved back to punishment (a) Child Savers - end punishment - establish treatment (b) Wealthy / educated class - save delinquent children

40. - changes in courts / corrections (2) Reasons for delinquency - children could be ‘saved’’ (a) Childhood: a period of savagery - battle of “good vs. evil” - treatment / religion (b) Naturally free spirits - quest of joy / happiness - educated / trained to work

41. (c) Good children turned bad - urban environment - poverty / crime / single-parent (d) Stuck in ‘psychic arrest’ - periods of tendency toward crime - did not pass / life of crime (3) Juvenile system again: - turned from concept of punishment d. Establishment of juvenile courts

42. - pressured legislators - separate courts - treat differently - adult crime mentality - both the same (1) Created conflicts - do-gooders vs. hard-liners - Child Savers triumphed (a) Turned to rehabilitation - care / protection / discipline

43. (b) Ceased to be criminal - ‘child in need’ (c) First step: juvenile justice - “civil” juvenile system (2) First juvenile court - 1899 - Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) (a) Family court - juvenile matters - identify underlying problem

44. (b) Ways to solve problem - training / education / sterilization • Era of socialized justice - no longer treated as criminals - protection foremost a. 1899 to 1967: - emphasis: obtaining complete picture of delinquent - attempts made to determine appropriate care

45. - looked at: home environment / schooling / maturity / mentality / work history / criminal history / peer group (1) “Case worker” approach - informality became the rule (a) No prosecutor - no defense attorney - no jury (b) Decision: best for juvenile

46. - made by participants (c) Judge / case worker / police officer / psychologist (d) Considered guilty - without trial (2) 1920s: case workers became probation officers - do what best for youth - also take into custody

47. (a) 1940s / 1950s - juvenile crime moderate - “Fabulous fifties” – life easy - employment up / poverty down - crime / poor: inner-city ghettos (b) Children / families structured - assembly line children - typical family (Father Knows Best / Leave It to Beaver) (c) Father worked / mother homemaker

48. - children go to school - graduate (d) After graduation: - work - college - military b. 1955: Holmes Case - US Supreme Court - not criminal courts - civil actions

49. (1) Constitutional rights - adults only - juveniles not entitled (a) In detention for any reason - crime / disrespect / runaway (b) Guilt: preponderance of evidence - more likely than not (c) Adult trial: - proof beyond a reasonable doubt

50. (2) 1960s: - “Terrible Sixties” - crime soared - violent / property (a) Beginning of end: - socialized justice - formal proceedings began (b) Gault vs. Arizona (1964) - changed informality - required legal rights