History of the Juvenile Justice System

1. History of the Juvenile Justice System

2. Slide 2 After completing this chapter, you should be able to: Describe how juvenile offenders were treated by the law throughout history. Identify the early institutions of juvenile justice. Explain the forces behind the creation of the juvenile justice system in the United States. Outline the three major historical periods in juvenile justice.

3. Slide 3 After completing this chapter, you should be able to: Identify the assumptions of the traditional model of juvenile justice. Identify the assumptions of the due process model of juvenile justice. Identify the assumptions of the punitive model of juvenile justice. Describe how changing assumptions affect the juvenile justice system.

4. Slide 4 3.1 The Changing Shape of the Juvenile Justice System • Over the past century, the juvenile justice system has been marked by many shifts in thinking concerning how to treat juveniles. • Shifts in the system have led some people to call for the abolition of the juvenile justice system.

5. Slide 5 3.1 The Changing Shape of the Juvenile Justice System • The system has been shaped by changes in people’s assumptions about causes of delinquency and possible cures. assumptions: Ideas and beliefs that serve as the foundation for theories, programs, and policies. In juvenile justice, these assumptions consist of what people believe about the causes of juvenile delinquency, what we should do about juvenile delinquency, and how the juvenile justice system should function.

6. Slide 6 3.1 The Changing Shape of the Juvenile Justice System Changes in assumptions have dramatically altered how the juvenile justice system in the U.S. operates.

7. Slide 7 SELF CHECK Do you understand what an assumption is and what role assumptions play in the development of juvenile justice?

8. Slide 8 3.2 Historical Treatment of Juveniles • Before the 20th Century, juveniles were essentially chattel and could be bought, sold, and treated like any other property. chattel: The legal term for property. In the past, juveniles were viewed as property in the eyes of the law.

9. Slide 9 3.2 Historical Treatment of Juveniles Juvenile offenders were subject to the same penalties as adults, but usually received lighter penalties. However, children did not receive any special protection under the law.

10. Slide 10 Juvenile Justice Under the English Common Law Under English Common Law, a child of age 7 or older was accountable for his criminal acts and could be given a variety of corporal punishments, banishment, and the death penalty.

11. Slide 11 Juvenile Justice Under the English Common Law England in the 1600s established a system of orphanages, work houses, training schools, and apprenticeships to deal with unwanted and orphaned children. orphanages, work houses, training schools, and apprenticeships: An informal system of public and private institutions that were designed to take in wayward children. Their goal was to take care of children whose parents were unable or unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. These institutions attempted to raise children to become productive members of society.

12. Slide 12 Juvenile Justice Under the English Common Law Many children were subjected to involuntary servitude and apprenticeships aimed at training them to be adults and contribute to society. involuntary servitude: The practice of selling children into service to a business person or wealthy person for service. In exchange for the money, parents would essentially give up all rights to the child.

13. Slide 13 Juvenile Justice in Colonial America • During the colonial era in America, children were viewed much as they had been in England. • As a result of educational and religious reforms, children began to be seen as not fully developed and not capable of exercising free will.

14. Slide 14 Children During the Industrial Revolution • During the Industrial Revolution, children worked long hours alongside adults in factories. • Many reform groups began to question how children were being treated.

15. Slide 15 Children During the Industrial Revolution • A puritanical ideal developed, centered on the idea that the best way to cure juvenile delinquency was to remove them from the corrupting influence of the city and poverty. • This idea led to innovative programs and still pervades juvenile corrections today.

16. Slide 16 SELF CHECK • How were children treated prior to the development of separate institutions for wayward juveniles? • What programs and facilities were initiated under English Common Law for juveniles? • What issues in the treatment of children were problematic during the Industrial Revolution?

17. Slide 17 3.3 Early American Juvenile Institutions • The concept of rehabilitation has its roots in 16th and 17th century Puritan America. Puritans: A religious group in early America who believed that through hard work, religion, and education a person could get closer to God. These ideas served as the foundation of early institutions of juvenile justice in the United States.

18. Slide 18 Early American Juvenile Institutions • The first American penal institution to specifically address juvenile issues was the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia. Walnut Street Jail: The first jail in the United States that separated inmates and sought to reform their behavior rather than just punish them. Opened in 1790 in Philadelphia, it was also the first correctional facility to separate women and children from adult male inmates.

19. Slide 19 Early American Juvenile Institutions • The Industrial Revolution led to many of the institutions that were developed in the U.S.

20. Slide 20 Early American Juvenile Institutions Many institutions were created outside the city, reflecting the view that traditional agrarian values could cure delinquency. traditional agrarian values: The ideas and beliefs shared by those who worked the land and espoused Puritan or Quaker values. The idea was that the city was a source of many juveniles’ “evil ways” and the best way to change the child was to remove them from the city and place them in remote rural locations.

21. Slide 21 Houses of Refuge Houses of Refuge were created specifically to deal with the children who lived on city streets, subsisting by picking pockets and other crimes. Houses of Refuge: Early institutions specifically designed for juveniles in the United States. These facilities would take in and care for dependent, neglected, and delinquent children. Founders believed that juveniles could be saved through hard work and religion.

22. Slide 22 The Development of Parens Patriae and Reform Schools The legal foundation for the Houses of Refuge and other institutions was the concepts of: in loco parentis: The legal concept of allowing the state to “act in place of the parents.” This gives the state the legal right to take away parental custody of children when it is in the best interests of the child. • Parens patriae • In loco parentis

23. Slide 23 The Development of Parens Patriae and Reform Schools • The Ex Parte Crouse case led to a multitude of new facilities designed specifically for juveniles. Ex Parte Crouse: The first court case in the United States that declared the concept of parens patriae constitutional. • Reform schools were opened which purported to provide a more stable environment where wayward juveniles were educated through strict discipline and religious principles.

24. Slide 24 The Development of Parens Patriae and Reform Schools • After time, a grassroots movement began to question to goals and practices of reform schools and Houses of Refuge. grassroots movement: A movement that starts with people in the general public and not in the political arena.

25. Slide 25 SELF CHECK • What religious group’s values were used in the development of juvenile justice in the United States? • What are Houses of Refuge and what role did they play in the early juvenile justice system? • What two legal concepts serve as the foundation for the juvenile justice system?

26. Slide 26 3.4 Early Juvenile Justice in the United States In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a group of prominent women called the child savers lobbied for reform of criminal justice system, child labor practices, child abuse, runaways, homeless children, and newly immigrated children. child savers: The group of progressive reformers who, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, were responsible for the creation of the juvenile justice system in the United States.

27. Slide 27 Early Juvenile Justice in the United States • Proponents argue that the establishment of the juvenile justice system grew out of a feeling of benevolence. • Critics argue that the system was a mechanism to control and train the urban poor to be part of the new industrialized society.

28. Slide 28 Juvenile Justice during the Victorian Era The most cited assumptions of the proponents of the early juvenile justice system centered on the need to provide juvenile offenders with more individual attention than the criminal justice system could provide.

29. Slide 29 Juvenile Justice during the Victorian Era • The emerging juvenile justice system reflected the belief that science had progressed to such a degree that it was possible to diagnose juveniles accurately and effectively and treat and cure them. • The system was not intervening in the lives of juveniles for society’s good, but for the juvenile’s good.

30. Slide 30 SELF CHECK Who were the child savers and what role did they play in the development of the juvenile justice system? What are the differing opinions given as to why the juvenile justice system was created in the U.S.?

31. Slide 31 3.5 The Traditional Model of Juvenile Justice (1900s -1960s) • At the end of the 19th century, states began creating separate policies for juveniles. The Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899 codified this change. Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899: The law that established the first separate juvenile court in the United States.

32. Slide 32 MYTH FACT Juveniles have always had the same rights in delinquency proceedings as adults have had in criminal proceedings. Several U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the 1960s and 1970s granted juveniles fundamental due process rights. Prior to these, juveniles could be incarcerated for long periods of time without basic rights, such as the right to an attorney, notice of the charges, and full and fair hearing. Today still, juveniles are not granted the right to a jury trial in many delinquency proceedings.

33. Slide 33 The Traditional Model of Juvenile Justice An examination of the early juvenile justice system revealed that, for the most part, there was a wide gap between what was intended by progressive reformers and actual system operation.

34. Slide 34 The Traditional Model of Juvenile Justice Some legal scholars began to argue that the juvenile court was nothing more than a junior criminal court where juveniles were denied basic due process rights.

35. Slide 35 The Traditional Model of Juvenile Justice Platt summarizes his alternative view of the juvenile court movement and the child savers into three themes:

36. Slide 36 The Traditional Model of Juvenile Justice • Delinquents were seen as needing firm control and restraint—child savers were actually recommending increased imprisonment. • Lower-class homes were compared against middle and upper-class homes when determining whether to remove a child—an unnecessarily high standard. • Child savers blurred the distinction between dependent and delinquent children. All children were viewed as dependent and without due process rights.

37. Slide 37 SELF CHECK • What was the Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899? Why is this act so important? • What is Platt’s alternative view of the juvenile court and the child savers?

38. Slide 38 3.6 The Due Process Model of Juvenile Justice (1960s-1980s) From its inception, the juvenile court was subject to criticism that largely centered on: • Practicality • Constitutionality • Lack of punishment

39. Slide 39 The Due Process Model of Juvenile Justice The juvenile justice system had conflicting goals: • Best interests of the child • Best interests of society The end result was essentially a criminal trial, followed by punishment, deterrence, and incapacitation.

40. Slide 40 The Due Process Model of Juvenile Justice • The due process model recognized the child was not property but a person with rights. • The due process revolution resulted in reforms in both substantive and procedural justice.

41. Slide 41 The Due Process Model of Juvenile Justice As a result of the due process revolution only two original assumptions of the juvenile justice system were markedly changed: • The juvenile justice system did not need the broad discretion originally envisioned by the founders. • Due process was important and did not hinder, but in fact, helped treatment.

42. Slide 42 The Due Process Model of Juvenile Justice Later criticisms would take a different form: • The juvenile offenders were slipping through the cracks and they were not as innocent as the system was treating them.

43. Slide 43 SELF CHECK What changes to the juvenile justice system happened during the due process era? What were the conflicting goals of juvenile justice that moved the U.S. supreme Court to alter the system?

44. Slide 44 3.7 The Punitive Model of Juvenile Justice (1980s-Present) • The most salient criticism of the juvenile justice system in recent years has been that the system is ineffective in dealing with the issues of violent crime and repeat offenders. • Although the number of violent offenders is small, these offenders are of great concern to the public.

45. Slide 45 The Punitive Model of Juvenile Justice The inability of the juvenile justice system to deal with violent and repeat offenders resulted in a wave of “get tough” legislation that began in the 1970s and continues today.

46. Slide 46 The Punitive Model of Juvenile Justice Under the punitive model of juvenile justice, the function of the system has shifted to: • Assessing the level of harm to society and • Imposing the appropriate level of punishment to prevent further delinquency, particularly with determinate sentencing.

47. Slide 47 The Punitive Model of Juvenile Justice Determinate Sentencing determinate sentencing: A sentence that has a fixed number of years to serve that is associated with more punitive goals than rehabilitative ones. The indeterminate sentence is a hallmark of the juvenile justice system. The idea was that in order to rehabilitate a juvenile, you could not specify the amount of time it would take to cure them.

48. Slide 48 The Punitive Model of Juvenile Justice Four forces helped to bring about the punitive model: • A belief that there has been a substantial increase in juvenile violent crime • Recognition of and research concerning serious habitual offenders • Increasing drug use and gang membership in many jurisdictions • The due process revolution of the 1960s

49. Slide 49 The Punitive Model of Juvenile Justice The goals and objectives of this new punitive model of the juvenile justice system are delineated and embraced in the recent Balanced Juvenile Justice and Crime Prevention Act of 1996. Balanced Juvenile justice and Crime Prevention Act of 1996: A law passed by Congress that embraces the punitive and accountability assumptions advocated in the late 1970s and 1980s. This act is reflective of the fundamental changes in assumptions about juveniles and juvenile justice.

50. Slide 50 SELF CHECK • What fundamental changes to juvenile justice in the U.S. were made by the Balanced Juvenile Justice and Crime Prevention Act of 1996? • What are the reasons why the juvenile justice system is becoming more punitive?