1. Development of the Juvenile Court
Urbanization
Child savers
Development of institutions and organizations for the care of delinquent and neglected children
Houses of Refuge
Juvenile reformatories

2. Houses of Refuge Developed for dependent/neglected/destitute children
Work for room and board, a form of slavery
Ex parte Crouse upheld them (1840s)
Mother committed daughter to house, father objected
Government can take custody

3. Ex parte Crouse
Children acknowledged as different from adults, due process not necessary
Supported Houses of Refuge

4. Juvenile reformatories
Lyman School for Boys (1847), Mass.
Girls school in Mass, 1855
Included all types of problem children
Lyman school closed in 1971, reopened in the 1990s (see Jerome Miller, Last One Over the Wall)

5. Other movements Children’s Aid Society, founded 1853
Rescue youths from harsh environments, placing-out plan, sent children to western farms
Orphan trains—families wishing to take in children would meet the train and select children
SPCC, prevention of abuse, removal and placement of abused children

6. Juvenile Court First juvenile court: Chicago, 1899
Parens patriae: court was to act as a kindly parent, in loco parentis
Help children in all types of trouble
Dependent, neglected and abused (physical, sexual)
Delinquents (violated penal codes

7. Juvenile court
Status offenders (acts against the family codes, forbidden because of status—age)
Status offenses
Running away
Truancy
Drinking
Curfew violations

8. Juvenile court Habitual disobedience, incorrigibility
Lack of morals (promiscuity)
Currently includes such designations as status offender, unruly child, PINS, MINS, CHINS, JINS

9. Juvenile court These courts were civil
Differences between civil and criminal courts
Lawyers
Punishment (criminal courts, not in juvenile court)
Standard of proof
Different standards of evidence

10. Civil vs. criminal Civil: lawsuits, contracts, divorces
Mental health commitments as a parallel to the JJS

11. Juvenile court Medical model: figure out problem and find best cure
Informal nature: meeting with judge, probation officer, guardian and professionals
Decisions were to help the child, standards of due process not necessary

12. Juvenile courts By 1925, juvenile courts were nationwide
Network of courts, probation and reform schools established (probation disposition of choice)
Little distinction between various groups of juveniles—it was all “help”

13. Problems Although supposedly help, reformatories were often punitive
A very strong class bias

14. Juvenile courts
Delinquents mixed with status offenders and dependent/neglected (problems)
Although designed for treatment, this treatment tended to be absent.
Juvenile justice hit a low during the Great Depression, as conditions were very bad institutions (“era of shame”)

15. Juvenile courts
During the 1930s, first major studies of delinquency were conducted (Gluecks)
By 1960s, serious objections to the juvenile justice system
Courts could do anything they wanted under parens patriae
Complete discretion

16. Juvenile courts
Number of youths referred began to rise dramatically, with the rise in births
Overuse of institutionalization
Significant increase in the study of delinquency, especially gangs
Little legal protection
Horror stories about institutions (Weeping in the Playtime of Others, Wooden)

17. 1960s and 1970s Major movements Due process De-institutionalization
Diversion
Separation of status offenders and delinquents
Massachusetts and deinstitutionalization

18. 1960s and 1970s Major Supreme Court cases
Establishment of limited due process in the juvenile justice system
Compromise between criminal and civil system
More referral to DFS

19. Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974
Deinstitutionalization of status offenders, dependent/neglected
Separation from adults in institutions
Separate detention facilities for juveniles
Disproportionate minority confinement

20. Punitive era, 1980s Perception that juveniles becoming more dangerous
More gun use & lethal violence
Changing view of mens rea for juveniles
More due process, adult model of corrections
Transfer of juveniles to adult court

21. Balanced Juvenile Justice and Crime Prevention Act of 1996
See p. 39
Balance between punishment and treatment

22. Punitive vs. Rehabilitative model
Mens rea: free will and intent
Are juveniles less developed?
Free will vs. environmental causes (free will would imply punitiveness, environment would imply treatment)
Protection of society (punitive) vs. protection of juvenile (rehab)

23. Punitive vs. Rehabilitative
Punitive: need for due process in order to ensure fairness, Rehabilitative: no need for cumbersome procedures
Role of discretion: punitive model would limit it, rehabilitative would expand it
Role of records
Punishment vs. changing behavior

24. The present system Measurement of delinquency
UCR and other official statistics such as police and court records
Part I and Part II. Three status offenses (runaway, truancy and curfew violations)
Victimization surveys
Self-report studies

25. Problems
Only those acts reported—many delinquent acts handled informally, especially status offenses
Many other options aside from the system
Sealing of records

26. UCR 2.3 million arrests of juveniles 16% of all arrests
30% of Part I crimes
70 million juveniles, about 23%, of the population is under 18, and
Accounts for 15% of violent crime
25% of property crime arrests

27. Decline in violent crime
1980s and early 1990s, increase in juvenile crime
“superpredators”
Not substantiated, juvenile crime has been decreasing
Greater decreases than for adults
1300 homicides, about 8%

28. UCR 2006 1.5 million arrests for Part II offense
114,200 running away from home (60% female, decreasing)
207,700 disorderly conduct, increasing
196,700 drug abuse violations (increasing)
152,900 curfew violations

29. Other violations Larceny 278,100 Aggravated assaults 60,700
Simple assaults (249,400)
Burglary 83,900
Motor vehicle 34,600
Weapons 47,200
DWI 20,100

30. Other Drunkenness 16,000 Vandalism 117,500 Prostitution 1600
Sex offenses 15,900
Rape 3610

31. UCR Property crime peaks at age 16 Violent crime peaks at 18
Crime rates decline after these peak years
Arrests for juvenile violent crime began to increase in 1989, peaked in 1994, and then fell

32. UCR
Property offense remained more stable, but have also showed recent decline
Juvenile murder rates more than doubled between the early 1980s and their peak in 1993; they have declined but remain higher than earlier levels

33. Self-reports Interviews or anonymous questionnaires
If truancy, alcohol consumption, theft, etc., are included, delinquency is almost universal
Most people admit to something for which they could have gone to juvenile court

34. Self report 50% admit to truancy 1/3 defying parents ½ to drinking
10% to running away
25% to shop lifting
30% to destroying property
1/3 to B & E
10% to joyriding

35. Self-report
It is estimated that 90% of status offenses are undetected

36. Self-report Delinquency problem far greater than reflected in UCR
Do not indicate that the delinquency rate is climbing
Problems with self-report
Validating against arrest statistics
Inclusion of many minor offenses
Exclusion of serious delinquents

37. Juvenile victimization
Types of victimization:
1. abuse (sexual, physical, emotional educational)
2. crime victimization (i.e., assaults, thefts)
2.9 million cases of abuse investigated, 25% substantiated

38. Juvenile victimization
Of those substantiated, 61% were neglect, 19% physical, sexual 10%
Female perpetrators
Infants most likely, then the rate is fairly constant, begins rapid decline after age 14

39. Other victimization
Most common away from school or on the way to school
Juveniles tend to be victims of theft, at higher rates than adults
14% of males in one study indicated that they had been attacked, robbed or bullied

40. Correlates of delinquency
Gender
Race: disproportionately African American, 12.5% of the population, but 31% of all arrests and 36% of index crimes
Reasons?

41. Other correlates Social class Age Criminal careers
Juvenile victimization

42. Overview of juvenile justice process

43. Reasons for increases in juvenile crime
Educational standards
Teenage pregnancies, although now declining (drop in teenage marriages, rise in premarital sex, beginning at an earlier age, better health)
Increase in alcohol and drug use
Increased opportunity for crime
Unemployment among the young

44. Reasons (continued) One parent homes
More mobility, less extended family
Standard of living issues

45. Reasons for the decrease
More punitive measures?
Changing values? i.e., negative views of gangs, drugs, etc.
Community programs?
Regression to the mean?
Incapacitation, more beds for juveniles?
Aging population?