Development of the Juvenile Court

1. Development of the Juvenile Court • Urbanization • Child savers • Development of institutions and organizations for the care of delinquent and neglected children • Houses of Refuge • Juvenile reformatories

2. Houses of Refuge • Developed for dependent/neglected/destitute children • Work for room and board, a form of slavery • Ex parte Crouse upheld them (1840s) • Mother committed daughter to house, father objected • Government can take custody

3. Ex parte Crouse • Children acknowledged as different from adults, due process not necessary • Supported Houses of Refuge

4. Juvenile reformatories • Lyman School for Boys (1847), Mass. • Girls school in Mass, 1855 • Included all types of problem children • Lyman school closed in 1971, reopened in the 1990s (see Jerome Miller, Last One Over the Wall)

5. Other movements • Children’s Aid Society, founded 1853 • Rescue youths from harsh environments, placing-out plan, sent children to western farms • Orphan trains—families wishing to take in children would meet the train and select children • SPCC, prevention of abuse, removal and placement of abused children

6. Juvenile Court • First juvenile court: Chicago, 1899 • Parens patriae: court was to act as a kindly parent, in loco parentis • Help children in all types of trouble • Dependent, neglected and abused (physical, sexual) • Delinquents (violated penal codes

7. Juvenile court • Status offenders (acts against the family codes, forbidden because of status—age) • Status offenses • Running away • Truancy • Drinking • Curfew violations

8. Juvenile court • Habitual disobedience, incorrigibility • Lack of morals (promiscuity) • Currently includes such designations as status offender, unruly child, PINS, MINS, CHINS, JINS

9. Juvenile court • These courts were civil • Differences between civil and criminal courts • Lawyers • Punishment (criminal courts, not in juvenile court) • Standard of proof • Different standards of evidence

10. Civil vs. criminal • Civil: lawsuits, contracts, divorces • Mental health commitments as a parallel to the JJS

11. Juvenile court • Medical model: figure out problem and find best cure • Informal nature: meeting with judge, probation officer, guardian and professionals • Decisions were to help the child, standards of due process not necessary

12. Juvenile courts • By 1925, juvenile courts were nationwide • Network of courts, probation and reform schools established (probation disposition of choice) • Little distinction between various groups of juveniles—it was all “help”

13. Problems • Although supposedly help, reformatories were often punitive • A very strong class bias

14. Juvenile courts • Delinquents mixed with status offenders and dependent/neglected (problems) • Although designed for treatment, this treatment tended to be absent. • Juvenile justice hit a low during the Great Depression, as conditions were very bad institutions (“era of shame”)

15. Juvenile courts • During the 1930s, first major studies of delinquency were conducted (Gluecks) • By 1960s, serious objections to the juvenile justice system • Courts could do anything they wanted under parens patriae • Complete discretion

16. Juvenile courts • Number of youths referred began to rise dramatically, with the rise in births • Overuse of institutionalization • Significant increase in the study of delinquency, especially gangs • Little legal protection • Horror stories about institutions (Weeping in the Playtime of Others, Wooden)

17. 1960s and 1970s • Major movements • Due process • De-institutionalization • Diversion • Separation of status offenders and delinquents • Massachusetts and deinstitutionalization

18. 1960s and 1970s • Major Supreme Court cases • Establishment of limited due process in the juvenile justice system • Compromise between criminal and civil system • More referral to DFS

19. Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 • Deinstitutionalization of status offenders, dependent/neglected • Separation from adults in institutions • Separate detention facilities for juveniles • Disproportionate minority confinement

20. Punitive era, 1980s • Perception that juveniles becoming more dangerous • More gun use & lethal violence • Changing view of mens rea for juveniles • More due process, adult model of corrections • Transfer of juveniles to adult court

21. Balanced Juvenile Justice and Crime Prevention Act of 1996 • See p. 39 • Balance between punishment and treatment

22. Punitive vs. Rehabilitative model • Mens rea: free will and intent • Are juveniles less developed? • Free will vs. environmental causes (free will would imply punitiveness, environment would imply treatment) • Protection of society (punitive) vs. protection of juvenile (rehab)

23. Punitive vs. Rehabilitative • Punitive: need for due process in order to ensure fairness, Rehabilitative: no need for cumbersome procedures • Role of discretion: punitive model would limit it, rehabilitative would expand it • Role of records • Punishment vs. changing behavior

24. The present system • Measurement of delinquency • UCR and other official statistics such as police and court records • Part I and Part II. Three status offenses (runaway, truancy and curfew violations) • Victimization surveys • Self-report studies

25. Problems • Only those acts reported—many delinquent acts handled informally, especially status offenses • Many other options aside from the system • Sealing of records

26. UCR • 2.3 million arrests of juveniles • 16% of all arrests • 30% of Part I crimes • 70 million juveniles, about 23%, of the population is under 18, and • Accounts for 15% of violent crime • 25% of property crime arrests

27. Decline in violent crime • 1980s and early 1990s, increase in juvenile crime • “superpredators” • Not substantiated, juvenile crime has been decreasing • Greater decreases than for adults • 1300 homicides, about 8%

28. UCR 2006 • 1.5 million arrests for Part II offense • 114,200 running away from home (60% female, decreasing) • 207,700 disorderly conduct, increasing • 196,700 drug abuse violations (increasing) • 152,900 curfew violations

29. Other violations • Larceny 278,100 • Aggravated assaults 60,700 • Simple assaults (249,400) • Burglary 83,900 • Motor vehicle 34,600 • Weapons 47,200 • DWI 20,100

30. Other • Drunkenness 16,000 • Vandalism 117,500 • Prostitution 1600 • Sex offenses 15,900 • Rape 3610

31. UCR • Property crime peaks at age 16 • Violent crime peaks at 18 • Crime rates decline after these peak years • Arrests for juvenile violent crime began to increase in 1989, peaked in 1994, and then fell

32. UCR • Property offense remained more stable, but have also showed recent decline • Juvenile murder rates more than doubled between the early 1980s and their peak in 1993; they have declined but remain higher than earlier levels

33. Self-reports • Interviews or anonymous questionnaires • If truancy, alcohol consumption, theft, etc., are included, delinquency is almost universal • Most people admit to something for which they could have gone to juvenile court

34. Self report • 50% admit to truancy • 1/3 defying parents • ½ to drinking • 10% to running away • 25% to shop lifting • 30% to destroying property • 1/3 to B & E • 10% to joyriding

35. Self-report • It is estimated that 90% of status offenses are undetected

36. Self-report • Delinquency problem far greater than reflected in UCR • Do not indicate that the delinquency rate is climbing • Problems with self-report • Validating against arrest statistics • Inclusion of many minor offenses • Exclusion of serious delinquents

37. Juvenile victimization • Types of victimization: • 1. abuse (sexual, physical, emotional educational) • 2. crime victimization (i.e., assaults, thefts) • 2.9 million cases of abuse investigated, 25% substantiated

38. Juvenile victimization • Of those substantiated, 61% were neglect, 19% physical, sexual 10% • Female perpetrators • Infants most likely, then the rate is fairly constant, begins rapid decline after age 14

39. Other victimization • Most common away from school or on the way to school • Juveniles tend to be victims of theft, at higher rates than adults • 14% of males in one study indicated that they had been attacked, robbed or bullied

40. Correlates of delinquency • Gender • Race: disproportionately African American, 12.5% of the population, but 31% of all arrests and 36% of index crimes • Reasons?

41. Other correlates • Social class • Age • Criminal careers • Juvenile victimization

42. Overview of juvenile justice process

43. Reasons for increases in juvenile crime • Educational standards • Teenage pregnancies, although now declining (drop in teenage marriages, rise in premarital sex, beginning at an earlier age, better health) • Increase in alcohol and drug use • Increased opportunity for crime • Unemployment among the young

44. Reasons (continued) • One parent homes • More mobility, less extended family • Standard of living issues

45. Reasons for the decrease • More punitive measures? • Changing values? i.e., negative views of gangs, drugs, etc. • Community programs? • Regression to the mean? • Incapacitation, more beds for juveniles? • Aging population?