Juvenile JusticeJuvenile JusticeJuvenile JusticeJuvenile Justice

Chapter 14 In Your TextbookChapter 14 In Your Textbook

John MasseyJohn MasseyCriminal JusticeCriminal Justice

Before the 1800’s• Middle Ages• Children portrayed as little men and

little women• Infancy ended at age 7.• Childhood was invisible.• Adolescence did not emerge until the

1800’s.

• Deviance handled informally.• Strict laws governing youth behavior.• Punishment rarely administered.• Children, if punished, were usually

punished by parents.

1800’s & Child Workers• As late as 1780, children could be convicted and

hanged for over 200 crimes.• Behavior and control – responsibility of parents• Physical size and capacity more important than age.

• Child Workers– Boys as young as 6 or 7 began work during Colonial

Period.– Running errands, chopping wood– Age 14, family trade.– Social Security and Income

Parens Patriae &the emergence of

adolescence• Legal document, England• King is the “father of the country”• Authority to take child under custody• Intervention between the child and family.

• Emergence of adolescence– Breakup of Colonial Society– Capitalism begins– Immigration, “poor” and “dangerous” classes emerge– Agriculture shifts to Industrialism – Adolescent, Juvenile Delinquency emerges

House of Refuge Movement

• Children wandering the streets• 6 and 7 year olds convicted in criminal courts & housed with

adult inmates in jails and prisons.• Groups began to emerge to help the children.• Focus to remove children from unhealthy environments

• 1824, New York• New York House of Refuge• First correctional facility for young offenders in U.S.

• Aims:• Teach reading, writing, math• Enforce moral and religious obligations• Be both corrective and punitive

Statistics

• 63% of juveniles committed during a 30 year period – Irish

• Only 1 in 73 sent in the first year had been convicted of a serious offense.

• 63 of the 73 were committed for stealing, vagrancy, etc.• Working class backgrounds (working poor, poor)

• Fate of the House of Refuge Movement– Best interests of the children were not served– Strict discipline and control– Emergence of refuges in Boston, Philly, Baltimore– Crime and delinquency remained a problem.

Mid 19th Century Reforms• Complaints about HOR movement.• Growth of large cities.• Need for factory/mine workers = children as cheap

source of labor.• Public School Programs established.

– Kindergarten, Extracurricular activities, Homeroom, Organized Playgrounds

– All taught cooperation, respect for authority and discipline.

– Schools as a Network of Social Control• Used to prevent and control delinquency• Teachers, guidance counselors, social workers – all part of the

network.

Fate of Mid 19th Century Reforms

• Reforms did little to reduce crime.• Used to regulate and control deviants, potential deviants and

poor in general.• Progressive Era opened the way for new forms and new

institutions.• “Care, Control, and Protection” – Child Saving Movement

• Child Savers:– Upper middle class, upper class whites w/ business and

professional backgrounds– Goals were to save children from jails and prisons and divert them

from the adult CJ system.

Juvenile Court• Chicago and Denver – 1899• 1899 Illinois Juvenile Court Act – removed cases from

adult system and formally established a juvenile court.• Status offenses

– Vicious or immoral behavior, profane/indecent behavior, truancy (skipping school), running away, growing up in idleness, curfew violations.

• Juvenile Court Environment– Judges were like stern fathers.– Informal, no need for lawyers– Cases were not criminal, Children were diagnosed.

20th Century Developments

• Little change between 1920’s and 1960’s in juvenile system.

• The 1960’s brought hope.

• Supreme Court Cases:– In re Gault (1967) – same due process rights as adults– Kent v. US (1966) – right to counsel like adults– In re Winship (1970) – beyond a reasonable doubt like

adults– Breed v. Jones (1975) – double jeopardy– McKeiver v. Penn (1971) – does NOT give juveniles right to

jury trial.

Issues Today• The Age Question• Are juveniles liable? Can they understand their

actions?• Juvenile Gangs• Competency

• Juveniles can be transferred to adult court through the use of a waiver.

• Variety of Sanctions for juveniles: curfews, juvenile detention, prison, boot camps, etc.