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Juvenile Justice

TitleJuvenile Justice
# of Words826
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)3.3

Juvenile Justice



Juvenile Justice


     The Juvenile Justice System as it typically functions in America's
thousands of jurisdictions is the subject that will be covered.  The Juvenile
Justice System is defined as that "sociolegal process having responsibility and
authority for public reaction to current juvenile delinquency and deterrence of
future juvenile delinquency, including within that process the public and
private agents, agencies, laws, rules, and policies having to do with juvenile
delinquency"(Weiner, 1987, p.12). This paper will deal with the history of the
juvenile system, the need for the juvenile system, juvenile court functions,
parents in court and programs that have worked, along with ones that haven't.
     Because the first formal juvenile court was so labeled on July 1, 1899,
which would make the Juvenile Justice System nearly a century old.  However, the
origins of the various components of the JJS go back much further than that.
The notion of separate treatment for children under criminal law goes back to a
very early English law.  Children under seven years of age were legally
incapable of committing a crime, and children between seven and fourteen were
presumed incapable, this concept being based upon a child's inability to have a
guilty mind, or mens rea.  Thus, from almost the beginning children have been
treated differently from adults who commit the same acts.
     The origin of juvenile corrections in the United States goes, back at
least to the opening of the New York House of Refuge in 1825.  This house of
refuge was established to meet the same kinds of needs the JJS of today tries to
meet, including avoidance of harsh criminal penalties for unfortunate children,
segregating "predeliquent" children from hardened delinquents, providing
"proper" moral, ethical, political, and social values and role models for
deprived children, and treating such children as victims rather than offenders.
This is the main reason why we do need the Juvenile Justice System.
     The function of the juvenile court system is to take a somewhat fatherly
and protective attitude toward children, whether to offer humanitarian
assistance or parental punishment.  Juvenile court was primarily established
however by a desire to avoid prisons for children by establishing special
juvenile court which would not send children to prison.  The juvenile court is
also used to somewhat scare the young offender with its dark wooden atmosphere
and flags to represent how alive the government is.  The courts main function
however is to find the best rehabilitation method for that individual.  Should
it be community service, a curfew or counseling, these are just a few options
the court has in sentencing a young offender.
     Parents play a big role in the Juvenile Court System.  With the parents
at the court hearing, the court can find out if the parent is providing a good
h...

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