The Nutshell Version, Anyhow

1. Why should kids who commit crimes be treated any differently than adults?
• At what age does a kid cease to become a
“kid?”
2. If kids should be treated differently, how should they be treated?

• Code of Hammurabi (2270 b.c.)
• Other Examples
– Roman civil and church law
– Ancient Jewish and Moslem laws

• Roman criminal law codified in the “Twelve
Tables”
– Eventually, under the “Justinian Code”
• 0-7 Years = not criminally responsible
• 7-12/14 = know right from wrong?
• >12/14 = adult
• English common law emerges (1000-1100ad)
– Early common law = “too young for punishment”
– By 1500s, common law adopts scheme similar to
Justinian code

• English Common Law
– 0 to 7 = not criminally responsible
– 7-14 = burden on state to demonstrate that the child:
• Formed criminal intent
• Understood consequences of their actions
• Knew right from wrong
• Concept of Parens Patriae develops
– Civil law, King as “parent of country”

• Statute of Artificers (1562) and Poor Laws
(1602)
– Children of paupers apprenticed
• Punishment of criminal children still similar to adults
– Corporal/public, banishment, galley slavery
• Bridewell Workhouse (London, 1557)
– Precursor to prisons, idea = “reform through labor”
– Mostly for “idle”/”disorderly”

• Until the late 1700s  English Common
Law
– Prison uncommon, many children found
“innocent” to spare them corporal punishment

1. The Industrial Revolution
2. The Birth of the Penitentiary
3.
“Gentleman Reformers”
Result of these trends: Houses of Refuge
– Ex Parte Crouse (1839)
And later, “Industrial” and “Reform” schools
– People ex rel. O’Connell V. Turner (1870)

• Child Savers disgruntled with “child prisons”
– Deep mistrust of “the city” and immigrants
• Advocated rural “Cottage Style” housing
• Helped to “place out” city kids to farm families

• The Progressives
– Optimists + Faith in Government
• General = sanitation, poverty, unsafe labor…
• Juveniles = compulsory education, helped shape juvenile justice system

• First Juvenile Court in Illinois (1899)
– Quasi-civil nature of court
• Parens Patriae = act in best interest of child using noncriminal procedures
• No “special wrong” necessary
– Characteristics
• Informal, closed proceedings with sealed records
• Medical model of “diagnosing” social ills
• Age = 15 years and younger
• Probation Officers to investigate and rehabilitate

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1899 1905 1909 1927 1950

• Juvenile Courts Spread, but differences emerged
– Some states require procedures similar to criminal court, others courts grant judge complete discretion to “follow conscience”
• Discretion/Informality becomes key issue
– Good?
– Bad?
• By the 1950s, many juvenile courts are “bureaucratic and burdened”

• Social Context of this Period Crucial
– Viet Nam, Kent State, Attica, Watergate…
– Increase in crime, divorce, single parents…
– Youth flaunting morals of prior generation
• Ideological Responses
– Conservatives?
– Liberals/Progressives?

• Conservatives and Liberals largely agree on policy
Issues
– In both adult and juvenile system, discretion should be limited
– Juveniles should be granted due process rights
• Differences?
– Conservatives  treat juveniles more like adults, punishment works
– Liberals  most juveniles should be diverted from the system, short sentences for those that aren’t

• Kent vs. United States (1961)
• In Re Gault (1967)
• In Re Winship (1970)
• Breed v. Jones (1975)
• Justice Stewarts Dissent Opinion in Gault

• “Legalists”
• “Case Workers” (Social Work)

• 1967 President Johnson’s “Commission on Law
Enforcement and Administration of Justice.”
• 1974 Congress enacts “Juveniel Justice and
Delinquency Prevention Act.”
– Creation of OJJDP
– Decriminalization, Deinstitutionalization, elimination of court authority over status offenders
• Mass. “deinstitutionalization” experiment

• Backlash against diversion, labeling theory
– Political Rhetoric “get tough on juveniles”
– National “war on drugs”
– 1984 National Advisory Committee for
Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention

• Legislative Policy
– Juvenile Wavier, Statutory Exclusion
– Lower upper age limit of jurisdiction
– Sentencing (Blended, mandatory minimum)
– Confidentiality, records in adult courts
• Types of Punishment
– Boot Camps, ISP, Electronic Monitoring

• Crime in general is not “high profile” issue
• OJJDP 1993 Comprehensive Strategy
• Barry Feld’s “Criminological triage”

• I Expect evidence from academic sources
– Journal articles, academic books
• Searching for articles/books
– Get references from books or articles
– Government reports (OJJDP, NCJRS…)
– Search
• Criminal Justice Abstracts
• Sage journals search (full text)
• Journal of Crime and Delinquency (full text)