Juvenile Justice
A special category in the justice
system created for youth—that is,
in most U.S. jurisdictions, persons
between the ages of 7 and 18.
History of Juvenile Justice
From a historical
perspective,
juvenile delinquency
and a separate justice
process for juveniles
are recent concepts.
The Development of
Institutions for Youth
In the beginning of
the 19th century (the 1800’s),
American cities were seeing
tremendous growth, particularly
because of immigration and, in
later years, industrialization.
Houses of Refuge
The first specialized
correctional institutions for
youths in the United States.
The Houses of Refuge
Houses of Refuge were designed to be
institutions where children could be
reformed and turned into hard-working
members of the community.
A
child could be committed to a
house of refuge by a constable, by a
parent, or on the order of a city
alderman.
The Houses
of
Refuge
 Children in houses of refuge engaged
in a daily regimen of hard work,
military drills, and enforced
silence, as well as religious and
academic training.
Probation
 Boston shoemaker John Augustus, the
“father of probation,” volunteered in
1841 to provide bail for and to
supervise minor offenders.
The Development of the
Juvenile Court
During the late 1800’s, a
new groups of reformers, the
child savers, began to
advocate a new institution
to deal with youth problems:
The juvenile court.
The Legal Context
of the
Juvenile Court
 The legal
philosophy
justifying state
intervention in the
lives of children
when their parents
are unable or
unwilling to
protect them.
Juvenile Court
 By the late
1800s, legal
mechanisms for
treating
children
differently and
separately from
adults were
being put in
place.
Juveniles at Risk
Prevention
services:
•School services
•County social
services
•Community
Based
Organizations
 school failures
 dysfunctional families
 substance abuse
 mentally disordered
crime committed
 school expulsion
 informal probation
 court involvement
 FORMAL probation
 out of home placement
 Juvenile Hall/detention center
Gerald Gault pg. 185
Please read about the case
and complete 16.7 a&b
Gerald Gault case
•In 1964, fifteen-year-old Gerald Gault, from
Arizona, was accused by a neighbor of making
an obscene phone call and was arrested.
• After a hearing in which he was not
represented by an attorney or allowed to
confront his accuser, Gerald was sentenced
to juvenile prison until his twenty-first
birthday.
Gault outcome…
 In the landmark
case, In re Gault
(1967), the U.S.
Supreme Court gave
juveniles a number
of due process
(14TH ammendment)
protections:
1. The right against
self-incrimination
2. A right to adequate
notice of charges
against them
3. A right to confront &
cross-examine their
accusers
4. The right to
assistance of counsel
(lawyer)
5. The right to sworn
testimony and appeal
What is meant by due process?
 The Constitution
guarantees that
the government
cannot take away a
person's basic
rights to 'life,
liberty or
property, without
due process of
law.'
Gerald Gault
Arizona case that all states
must give juvenile defendants
the same constitutional
rights as adult criminal
defendants.
The Formal Juvenile
Justice Process
The police represent the
primary gatekeepers to
the formal juvenile
justice process.
The Police Response
to Juveniles
Typical responses of police officers
handling juvenile cases are:
• Warn and release
• Refer to parents
• Refer to a diversionary program
operated by the police or another
community agency
• Refer to court (arrest)
Comparing
juvenile
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Offense
Take into custody
Petition
Denial
Admission
(status)
law
Terms
adult
1. Crime
2. Arrest
3. File charges
4. Not guilty plea
5. Guilty plea
6. Adjudicatory Hearing
6. Trial
7. Found Delinquent
7. Found guilty
8. Disposition
8. Sentencing
9. Detention
9. Jail
10.Aftercare
10. Parole
The Formal
Juvenile Justice Process
• 85 percent of delinquency cases
referred to the juvenile courts
come from police agencies.
• Status offenses Acts that are
not crimes when committed by adults but
are illegal for children (for example,
truancy or running away from home).
Referring to juvenile court…
•Juvenile hearings are
private and not open to
the public.
•Juvenile hearings never
have a jury.
•Only in adult courts.
•Decided by US Supreme
Court in 1971
Look at the Juvenile
Justice Process flow chart
on page 190
 How many times can the juvenile
case be dismissed in the process?
 Notice how many steps there are in
this process.
Adult or Juvenile?
As a way to get tougher on
crime, the process has been
made easier to transfer
juveniles to adult court.
You be the judge…
Page 181-183
Do prob. 16.2,16.3,16.4,16.5
Write down the 3 things that the
Federal office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention recommends for
an effective juvenile justice system.
 Read about the following
4 boys, and what
happened to each of them
in the Juvenile Justice
System.
 Questions to follow.
Marquese
Case studies
Manny
Jose
Shawn
Juvenile Sentencing
•
•
•
The Case of the 15 year old
Murderer
Madison Frasier Case Scenario
Expressing your opinion with
reasons about the perfect
juvenile justices system