Development of the Juvenile Court

Urbanization

Child savers

Development of institutions and organizations for the care of delinquent and neglected childrenHouses of RefugeJuvenile reformatories

Houses of Refuge

Developed for dependent/neglected/destitute childrenWork for room and board, a form of slaveryEx parte Crouse upheld them (1840s)Mother committed daughter to house, father objectedGovernment can take custody

Ex parte Crouse

Children acknowledged as different from adults, due process not necessary

Supported Houses of Refuge

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)

Other movements

Children’s Aid Society, founded 1853Rescue youths from harsh environments, placing-out plan, sent children to western farmsOrphan trains—families wishing to take in children would meet the train and select childrenSPCC, prevention of abuse, removal and placement of abused children

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 troubleDependent, neglected and abused

(physical, sexual)Delinquents (violated penal codes

Juvenile court

Status offenders (acts against the family codes, forbidden because of status—age)Status offensesRunning awayTruancyDrinkingCurfew violations

Juvenile court

Habitual disobedience, incorrigibilityLack of morals (promiscuity)Currently includes such designations as

status offender, unruly child, PINS, MINS, CHINS, JINS

Juvenile court

These courts were civilDifferences between civil and criminal courtsLawyers Punishment (criminal courts, not in juvenile

court)Standard of proofDifferent standards of evidence

Civil vs. criminal

Civil: lawsuits, contracts, divorces

Mental health commitments as a parallel to the JJS

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

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”

Problems

Although supposedly help, reformatories were often punitive

A very strong class bias

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”)

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

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)

1960s and 1970s

Major movementsDue processDe-institutionalizationDiversionSeparation of status offenders and

delinquentsMassachusetts and deinstitutionalization

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

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

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

Balanced Juvenile Justice and Crime Prevention Act of 1996

See p. 39

Balance between punishment and treatment

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)

Punitive vs. Rehabilitative

Punitive: need for due process in order to ensure fairness, Rehabilitative: no need for cumbersome proceduresRole of discretion: punitive model would limit it, rehabilitative would expand itRole of recordsPunishment vs. changing behavior

The present system

Measurement of delinquencyUCR and other official statistics such as

police and court recordsPart I and Part II. Three status offenses

(runaway, truancy and curfew violations)Victimization surveysSelf-report studies

Problems

Only those acts reported—many delinquent acts handled informally, especially status offenses

Many other options aside from the system

Sealing of records

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, andAccounts for 15% of violent crime25% of property crime arrests

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%

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

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

Other

Drunkenness 16,000

Vandalism 117,500

Prostitution 1600

Sex offenses 15,900

Rape 3610

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

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

Self-reports

Interviews or anonymous questionnairesIf truancy, alcohol consumption, theft, etc., are included, delinquency is almost universalMost people admit to something for which they could have gone to juvenile court

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

Self-report

It is estimated that 90% of status offenses are undetected

Self-report

Delinquency problem far greater than reflected in UCRDo not indicate that the delinquency rate is climbingProblems with self-reportValidating against arrest statisticsInclusion of many minor offensesExclusion of serious delinquents

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

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

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

Correlates of delinquency

Gender

Race: disproportionately African American, 12.5% of the population, but 31% of all arrests and 36% of index crimes

Reasons?

Other correlates

Social class

Age

Criminal careers

Juvenile victimization

Overview of juvenile justice process

Reasons for increases in juvenile crime

Educational standardsTeenage pregnancies, although now declining (drop in teenage marriages, rise in premarital sex, beginning at an earlier age, better health)Increase in alcohol and drug useIncreased opportunity for crimeUnemployment among the young

Reasons (continued)

One parent homes

More mobility, less extended family

Standard of living issues

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?