Chapter 14 Juvenile Justice Final Study Guide Criminology 100 Tues Thurs 4 15 5 30 Juvenile Justice One of the most stable features of crime is that much of it is committed by youths Crime is a young person s game Differences between juvenile and adult offenses Juvenile Based on a progressive philosophy Punitive Deterrence punishment less rehabilitation more social control the degree is a bit higher Adult more rehabilitation different courts Juvenile justice system is a parallel and sometimes competing system of justice Juvenile delinquent a person usually under the age of 18 who is determined to have committed a criminal offense or status offense in states in which a minor is declared to lack responsibility and cannot be sentences as an adult Juvenile Justice System focuses more on social control than rehabilitation o Systematically stripping juveniles of their rights o May not get treatment and rehab is recommended by the courts Childhood and the Law Today Past o Age dictates the rights and responsibilities granted by society o Everyone was treated in the same manner o teenage did not exist o Child Adolescent Adult This in the past was abrupt and not assisted by schools media or family traditions o Young men were apprentices into the workforce o Young women were married into other families Nicholas Orme Author of Medieval Children o Stated that there was no single age of responsibility or majority The authority for dealing with children resided with the parents o Primarily the father o Not the state o Wielded unlimited authority to punish o As brutally as they wished o State was powerless to intervene Early England 3 factors in the gradually improving status of the child 1 Increased availability of education a Schools became a major socializing factor b Apprenticeship movement young people were placed in the care of craftsmen who taught them trades i Committed to work for them till 21 years old 2 Poor laws 17th century laws that turned over vagrants and abandoned children to landowners or shopkeepers as indentured servants a Aimed in ridding streets of destitute and homeless children i Learn trade ii Safe housing iii Adequate food b Poor houses or workhouses were an alternative but they were still separated from adults and protected to a degree 3 Change in the legal status 13th century a Chancery Courts court of equity in England these were established in part to assist when common law courts failed to resolve a case These courts were favorable to vulnerable individuals especially children Binding out system orphans or children with inadequate parents were assigned to foster families labor o The apprenticed were given to richer families to be used for domestic or farm o Protected inheritance rights until they reached the age of maturity and could legally take care of their own affairs Parens Patriae father of the country refers to the philosophy that the government is the ultimate guardian of all children or disabled adults o Took a protective role in children s welfare o Allows courts to take children away from unfit parents o Established standards for education and welfare Laws condemning begging and vagrancy o Led to workhouses o First one Bridewell 1555 Early United States All rules and codes of conduct for juvenile justice were imported from England In colonial North America little distinction was made between offenses committed by children and adults Parents were in charge and responsible for their children s behaviors o When they were especially bad it wasn t uncommon for Corporal punishment Public shaming Confinement o Children over the age of 7 were subject to criminal law 19th century influx of immigrants inspired changes New institutions were created to deal with this dangerous class New York House of Refuge o 1825 o Correct the wayward habits of deviant young people o Housed Orphans Beggars Vagrants Juvenile offenders o Intended as a safe haven but often dangerous o Older children preyed on younger children o Operated by religious people Good intentions But usually prejudiced and bias o Females were sexually promiscuous o Black youths were treated less favorably than white youths o Mission was to provide education but children instead were highly disciplined and required to work Placing out boys were sent to work on farms and sea vessels Girls were sent to homes of wealthy women to serve and learn Orphan trains sent to west frontier families to work on farms Often exploited for their labor or sexuality o Workers failed to understand the varieties of cultures Concern socialization of immigrant children o Considered new customs deviant and sought to rescue children o Very dangerous and substandard institutions o End of 19th century they were abandoned o 1838 o Court established parens patriae as settled law in American juvenile Ex Parte Crouse jurisprudence The Beginning of the Courts 20th century responsibility of children s welfare was removed from the criminal court First juvenile court was established o 1899 o Cookcounty Illinois o Mandate to process the cases of children between 8 17 Child savers civic minded women who extended their material ideas about innocence of children into public services o Social workers in the court o C Wright Mills says reformers were Primarily white Middle class Protestant Rural Americans Believed problems of cities were caused by social disorganization o Extended philosophy of parens patriae Courts combined authority of social control with sympathy of social welfare in single institution Afforded judges a great deal of latitude o Led to the differences between modern criminal court and juvenile court Major differences between Criminal court and Juvenile court 1 Focus on rehab antisocial children can be redeemed a Rehab instead of punishment b Offenders younger than 18 cannot be executed c Keeping juveniles out of jail reform schools would get rid of further temptation d Antisocial behavior and individual deficiencies can be treated 2 Informal hearing case in conducted as a hearing not a trial a Hearing session that takes place without a jury before a judge or magistrate in which evidence arguments are presented to determine some factual or legal issue b Court workers and judge determine c Correct or counteract social deficiencies Inadequate schooling i ii Poverty iii iv Faulty parenting v Alcohol abuse Impoverished neighborhoods 3 Individualized justice treated according to own merits a Each child has different set of problems b