Massachusetts: Juvenile Justice System Tyler Rubchinuk Kimberly Bilotas
Transcript
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Tyler Rubchinuk Kimberly Bilotas
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Juvenile Delinquents Juvenile- If you are under the age of 18
in the US and commit a crime, you are considered Juvenile. There
are three different maximum ages of juveniles among the states :
15, 16, 17 Delinquent- Any behavior that violates any juvenile law
in the state. There are two categories of delinquency. Status
offenses- typically do not hurt people. (curfew violations,
skipping school, smoking, running away.) Crime- including burglary,
vandalism, assault etc.
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The process A juvenile suspected of committing crime is
reffered to the courts, or given away in agreement between the
victim, officer, and parents. Parents also have the option to enter
their child into a detention center. The juveniles case goes to an
intake officer, where they decide whether or not to bring the case
to trial. If the case continues to court, it then goes to
prosecution. Prosecution can dismiss, agree to detention,
prosecute, or waive the case to an adult court. If the child is
found guilty, then a disposition hearing occurs. Outcome of hearing
either placed on probation, receive residential placement,
aftercare, or detention.
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Probation in Massachusetts There are 13, 822 children across
Massachusetts who are either on probation, or court involved Coria
Holland, Spokeswoman for the office of the commissioner of
probation. There are 175 juvenile probation officers across the
state who are responsible for keeping track of them. Leaving 80
cases for each officer Probation officers are responsible for
making sure that each teen is following the terms of their
probation. Reoffending Juveniles are given more restrictive
conditions. The judge has the right to sentence them to serve the
remainder of their term in a department of youth services juvenile
detention facility.
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Continued The Juvenile Court is designed to be different from
other wings of the state Trial court. The focus is to emphasize on
rehabilitating teen offenders, instead of just incarcerating them -
Judge Daniel J. Swords Massachusetts passed a law intended to crack
down on juvenile super predators by transferring a significant
number of juvenile cases to adult court.
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Case Cameron Kenniston Vs. Department of Youth Services The
courts decided against allowing DYS to retain juveniles in their
custody after their 18 th birthday based on the fact that the dept.
determines whether or not that the youths would be physically
dangerous to the public. This was dismissed because it lacked due
process requirements and was constitutionally infirm, where the
statute failed to establish or require any link between a youths
alleged dangerousness and a mental condition or defect making the
youth incapable of controlling his or her behavior, and also where
the statute failed to provide any standard for what constituted
physical dangerousness
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Youthful Offender in Massachusetts If the prosecutor feels that
a child has committed a serious offense instead of a delinquency
they can choose to proceed against the child in deeming them a
youthful offender. A person can be known as a youthful offender if
they were ages- 14-16 at the time of the offense, and one of the
following circumstances applies 1. the offense charged is one that
would be punishable by state prison if the accused were an adult
and the accused was previously committed to the department of youth
services 2. the offense involves serious bodily harm, or the threat
of such harm
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Youthful offenders vs. Delinquents There are two major
differences in a youthful offenders case, instead of how the case
would be treated if they were just delinquent. All delinquency
cases are closed to the public. No one is allowed to be in the
court room other than the people involved, and the child charged.
No information can be released to the public of the case. The
delinquent case is allowed confidentiality. Youthful offenders have
no rule of confidentiality, and the courts file is available to
anyone in the public who wants to look at it. The courtroom of a
youthful offenders case is open to the public and media.
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Massachusetts Juvenile Court System Pros vs. Cons Pros
Confidentiality with Delinquents Main focus is rehabilitation for
teens instead of incarcerating them Cons Some cases can be sent to
Adult court Youthful offenders do not get confidentiality