Introduction to the New York Juvenile Justice System
Medgar Evers College
Based on Michelle Haddad’s “Note: Catching Up: The Need for New York State to Amend its Juvenile
Offender Law to Reflect Psychiatric, Constitutional, and Normative National Trends Over the Last Three
Decades” 7 Cardozo Pub. L. Pol’y & Ethics J. 455, Spring, 2009.
Discussion Questions
1. “One afternoon in March, 1978, as the subway was approaching Yankee Stadium, a sleeping man
was shot twice in the head. A gold watch and a ring were taken off his lifeless hand, and fifteen dollars
was removed from his pocket by the shooter. Less than a week later, there was a second cold-blooded
murder of a subway passenger, and a train yard dispatcher had been shot in the back. Detectives were
quickly led to fifteen-year-old Willie Bosket through neighborhood gossip and his prior arrests. After
Willie’s mother showed the police where the murder weapon was hidden, Willie confessed to owning
the gun and threatened the police officers interrogating him.” (p. 456) Convicted in a trial in the Bronx
Family Court, what type of punishment should he have received?
2. Why do we have a juvenile justice system in the first place? Shouldn’t we just try Willie Bosket as an
adult because he committed a serious crime?
3. The law in 1976 – a 14 or 15-year old convicted with a designated felony (such as murder,
kidnapping, rape, arson, assault in the first degree, or robbery in the first degree) must be held in
restrictive placement for 3-5 years. After the Willie Bosket crime, would you have changed the law to
obtain a more serious punishment for Mr. Bosket and others? What changes do you think the New York
State Legislature made?
4. Consider the following case that emerged after the Juvenile Justice Reform Amendment of 1978. A
13-year old teenager attempts to rob another teenager of a portable radio, ends up shooting him, and
causing his death. Does he have to be tried as an adult? Would you convict him of murder? How would
you sentence him?
5. Consider the following case. Two teenagers brutally stabbed a man fifty times and threw the body in
the Lake in Central Park. Would you try these youth as adults?
6. Besides potential sentencing, why should a teenager care about whether or not he or she is in a
Family Court as opposed to an adult criminal court?
7. Should youth be subject to the death penalty? Consider this case: “Christopher Simmons was
seventeen when he kidnapped a young mother, bound her with duct tape, and threw her off a bridge.
Simmons had planned the murder ahead of time and convinced two friends to participate by promising
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that they wouldn’t get in trouble because they were minors and were not held to the same criminal
standards as adults.” (p. 470) Does Christopher Simmons merit the death penalty?
8. Are there developmental and cognitive differences between youth and adults?
9. If you were a Family Court judge, what factors would you use to determine whether the youth before
your court should be tried as an adult? Consider the case of Morris Kent Jr., age 16, “already on
probation in the Juvenile Court in the District of Columbia for ‘several housebreakings and an attempted
purse snatching,’ who “had been rearrested for rape. The Juvenile Court waived jurisdiction and sent
him to be tried as an adult without an explanation. (p. 486)
Notes
1. Due to New York law before 1978, the maximum sentence for the two murders was just five years.
Willie Bosket would be released from detention without a criminal record before he turned 21.
2. The Supreme Court found that the reason for a juvenile justice system was treatment and
rehabilitation as opposed to deterrence and retribution. Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez 372 U.S. 144
(1963) The Court declared that the purpose of the modern juvenile system was “to ascertain [not]
whether the child was ‘guilty’ or ‘innocent’, but ‘what is he, how has he become what he is, and what
had best be done in his interest and in the interest of the state to save him from a downward career…
The state is proceeding as parents patriae.” In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1,14 (1967)
3. Following, the NY legislature passed the Juvenile Justice Reform Amendment of 1978. By September
of 1978, 13, 14, and 15-year olds accused of murder were automatically tried in criminal courts as
adults. New York also tried as adults 14 and 15-year olds charged with rape, arson, violent robberies,
and burglaries. The law also restricted plea bargaining options for violent offenders as a whole,
including juvenile offenders (p. 460).
The District Attorney now has the discretion to move the case to Family Court. Once the youth is tried
as an adult, the only way the child can avoid a permanent felony record is to be granted Youthful
Offender Treatment by the trial judge. But, the court must make a finding that either “mitigating
circumstances exist that bear directly upon the manner in which the crime was committed or [the
youth] was not the sole participant in the crime and his/her role was relatively minor, but not so minor
as to constitute a defense.” N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 720.10(3) (Consol. 2007)
4. The jury in this case convicted the 13-year old of manslaughter, not murder. Because the conviction
was less than the charges mentioned in the Juvenile Justice Reform Amendment of 1978, sentencing
had to take place in Family Court instead of Adult Court. The maximum sentence was three years. On
the whole, “less than two percent of the individuals convicted under the Juvenile Offender Law were
‘incarcerated for a period of time in excess of that available prior to [its] enactment.” (p. 467) However,
murder cases deviated from that trend.
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5. In 1999, Senate Bill 1404 proposed to eliminate all youthful offender treatment for certain offenses.
The bill did not, though, become law. (p. 468)
6. The rate of conviction in adult criminal courts is 3.5 times higher than in the Family Court System. (p.
468) There are also a number of exacerbating factors for youth like not being as able to give assistance
to counsel, standing for themselves as poor witnesses, and carrying a demeanor that may show a lack of
remorse for their crimes. (p. 469) Adult incarceration can also be tougher on youth. “[T]he suicide rate
for juveniles in adult prisons is 8 times that of juveniles in detention facilities.” (p. 474)
7. Roper v. Simmons 543 U.S. 551 (2005) outlawed the death penalty for youth under 18. Justice
Kennedy wrote the 5-4 opinion. Youth did not merit the death penalty because 1) They immaturity and
lack of responsibility often resulted in impetuous and ill-considered decisions 2) Juveniles are more
vulnerable and susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures. 3) The character of a child is
not as well formed as an adult. Justice O’Connor argued that we should evaluate each situation on a
case by case basis because the death penalty might be able to deter some crimes committed by youth.
Before then, only the United States and Somalia allowed the death penalty. Only the United States,
South Africa, and Israel allow life imprisonment for youth. And this question is currently before the U.S.
Supreme Court.
8. Brain growth and the pruning of unnecessary neurons continue into one’s 20s. “Neuroimaging
studies utilizing CAT scans, PET scans, and MRIs have suggested that the frontal lobe, which is
responsible for impulse control, judgment, language, memory, and planning, does not reach full
maturity until about 21 to 22 years of age. “ (p. 478) These controls are related to emotional outbursts,
reckless risk-taking and rule-breaking, and the impassioned pursuit of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll. “The
parietal lobes (which are responsible for the integration of ‘auditory, tactile and visual signals) are still
maturing through the midteens. Some studies have demonstrated that teenagers often have trouble
reading the emotions on other people’s faces.” (p. 480)
9. The Supreme Court prescribed what are now known as Kent factors. Kent v. United States, 383 U.S.
541 (1966). “1) seriousness of the offense and the need for protection of the community; 2) whether
the offense was violent and premeditated; 3) if the offense was against the person instead of property;
4) the strength of the complaint; 5) if co-defendants are adults; 6) sophistication and maturity of the
juvenile including his environmental situation and emotional attitude; 7) prior record of the juvenile;
and 8) the likelihood of rehabilitation by use of services available in the family court. (pp. 486-487)
Note: In 1990, every single member of the United Nations signed the International Convention on the
Rights of the Child. Only the United States and Somalia have not ratified the convention. Life
imprisonment for youth would violate the Convention. The convention states that “childhood is entitled
to special care and assistance, and the primary consideration in all actions, including in the court sytem,
should be the best interests of the child. (p. 489)
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