Unit 1, Lesson 14 – Flashcards

Historically, children were treated quite differently than they are today For example, in early England, if a child got into trouble, law didn't hold delinquent responsible; child was thought to be responsibility & property of parent; courts during this time in history believed that parents must be held accountable for their children's behaviors Another development during this time that significantly impacted how children were treated was concept of parens patriae; this concept placed more responsibility on government when it came to children's interests Beginning in late 19th century, juvenile courts had to consider what was in child's best interest

1 of 1st & most recognized explanations for juvenile delinquency is known as social ecology This approach focuses on misbehavior of lower-class youth & sees delinquency primarily as result of social disorganization; social ecology believes delinquency results from social disorganization that weakens traditional societal controls such as families, churches, jobs, & schools Growing out of social ecology movement was view called opportunity theory, which sees delinquency as result of limited amount of legitimate opportunities for success available to most lower-class youths Using gang activity as example, opportunity theory holds that youth gang membership is direct result of frustration lower-class youths experience when they discover they can't share in rewards of middle-class lifestyle Values & experience of many children today are far different from those of past; opportunity theory has resulted in growth of various treatment programs designed to increase opportunities for success among lower-class youths

In colonial America, no special system existed for juvenile offenders; parents were responsible for their children's actions If a child committed an action that was particularly bad, community treated child as they would an adult; at this time, options for punishment included banishment or even capital punishment

During 17th through 19th centuries, children were often used as indentured servants (when an individual signs an agreement to work for another individual for a certain period of time) Children often did this in response to promises made by contractors regarding wealth & happiness in New World; this system abused children & obligated them to years of indentured work

In 19th century, as onslaught of immigrants from Europe entered US, new challenges arose Issues related to socialization of children, delinquency, & schooling became paramount; to address some of these issues, houses of refuge were estasblished

In 1824, 1st house of refuge was established in NYC Initial purpose was to help poor children by providing them a safe place to live; unfortunately, these houses were sometimes dangerous places where older children preyed on younger ones Houses were typically operated by religious people who had mindsets that promoted certain prejudices & biases; for example, poor girls were thought to be sexually promiscuous, & poor black children were treated less favorably than their white peers In addition to providing safe place for children, houses of refuge tried to improve lives of poor children & help with socialization of immigrant children; unfortunately these houses weren't successful in achieving these goals; by end of 19th century, they were closed

By 20th century, it was clear that children's welfare wasn't being addressed effectively To address failures in these efforts, juvenile court system was developed; 1st juvenile court was established in 1899 in Cook County, Illinois, & handled cases of children between ages of 8 & 17 At this time, concept of parens patriae was expanded; state assumed ultimate responsibility for welfare of children, & juvenile court operated in interest of child; legal rights of young people no longer existed

Juvenile court works with premise that children can be rehabilitated; instead of punishment, rehabilitation is focus Unlike adult court (where offenders are given a trial), juvenile court is conducted like a hearing Juvenile court works from idea that each child brings unique set of problems to proceedings, so each case in juvenile court receives individualized treatment Juvenile hearings are private; behavior committed by juvenile isn't counted against individual when they become an adult

Focus on criminality Comprehensive rights against unreasonable searches of person, home, & possessions Right against self-incrimination; a knowing waiver is possible Assumed innocent until proven guilty Adversarial setting Arrest warrants form basis for most arrests Right to attorney Public trial System goals are punishment & reformation No right to treatment Possibility of bail or release on recognizance Public record of trial & judgment Possible incarceration in adult correctional facility

Focus on delinquency & special category of "status offenses" Limited rights against unreasonable searches Right against self-incrimination; waivers are questionable Guilt & innocence aren't primary issues; system focuses on interests of child Helping context Petitions or complaints legitimize apprehension Right to attorney Closed hearing; no right to jury trial System goals are protection & treatment Specific right to treatment Release into parental custody Sealed records; may sometimes be destroyed by specified age Separate facilities at all levels

Quality of schools (quality of school is significant factor in providing children with direction for success in society; unfortunately, due to many issues schools face, schools often fail in providing environment that discourage delinquency; issues facing schools today include high dropout rates, overcrowded classrooms, & violence in the classroom) Faulty families (families have significant impact on a child, both negatively & positively; today, various types of families exist, including single-parent families & foster families; ideal family structure is 1 in which child feels loved & supported) Poverty (if child has grown up with little health care & few educational opportunities, these issues can affect the child later in life; children living in poverty sometimes end up engaging in delinquent behavior to serve both physical & financial needs) Neighborhood quality (support of neighborhood can impact child; communities in which services such as after-school programs for youth exist can make positive impact & provide children in community with safe places to thrive)

Drug & alcohol abuse (more than 1/2 of all teenagers have tried an illicit drug by the time they finish high school; most commonly used drug is marijuana; over past 30 years, juvenile arrests for drug-related offenses have significantly increased; juveniles who abuse drugs are much more likely to be involved in other delinquent acts) Violence (approximately 800 homicides are committed by juveniles each year; although that's a relatively small number when compared to total homicide rate, violence committed by & against children is major problem; prevalence of juvenile crimes such as murder, aggravated assault, rape, & robbery has steadily grown in recent past) Gangs (juvenile gangs are nothing new to American society; traditionally, membership in juvenile gang served to prove cultural identity to various American immigrant groups; today, juvenile gangs are often sophisticated criminal enterprises; drug sales, acquiring & selling stolen goods, & often ruthless violence are all common in world of juvenile gangs) Runaways (2002 study reported that more than 800k children were reported missing each year; largest group of those children was runaways; children run away because of variety of reasons including lack of love or affection at home, problems with parents or school, or abuse; children who run away & remain at large for extended periods of time commonly become involved in theft, prostitution, & drug-related offenses) Sexual abuse (media coverage of all too numerous instances of sexual abuse against children has shocked America's conscience; child sexual abuse, assault, & exploitation crimes don't discriminate with regard to socio-economic backgrounds of their victims; regardless of victim, these crimes are always perpetrated by more powerful offender, typically an adult, who exerts their will over child to obtain sexual, economic, or other benefit for themselves) Other abuse (child abuse & neglect victimized more than 900k juveniles in 2003 alone; of this total, 60% suffered neglect, 19% suffered physical abuse, 10% were sexually abused, 5% were psychologically abused, & 2% were medically neglected; there is substantial & yet growing body of research evidencing that all forms of abuse can become major contributors to future juvenile delinquency)

children who are out of control; these children are sometimes removed from their families by courts & placed in setting that assists child in dealing with their issues; these children are also called undisciplined children

these children become responsibility of state; this can occur when child is abandoned or orphaned; when this occurs, court may place child with relative or in foster home

child can be physically & emotionally neglected; when neglect occurs, child is often left without adequate food & shelter; courts may become involved to remedy situation

person under age of 18 who has committed crime or status offense in states where minor is declared to lack responsibility & who can't be sentenced as adult

an act considered to be an offense only when committed by a juvenile & that can be adjucated only in a juvenile court

Case enters juvenile justice system by 1 of 2 types of referrals: child is referred by child's school, parents, or child welfare agency (this typically occurs because the adults believe the child is somehow at risk) or child is referred to juvenile court by law enforcement Due to negative impact that court proceedings can have on child, typically every effort is made by law enforcement to deal with juveniles by using community resources rather than by using juvenile justice system If child is to be held by court, law regulates that youth can't be held for more than 6 hours & that youth must have no contact with adult inmates; after 6 hours, youth must be transferred to juvenile detention facility

When child enters juvenile justice system, there are points in process that require decisions about what will happen with the youth Intake phase is time where major decision must be made about what to do with juvenile; at intake phase, preliminary hearing may occur to determine what has occurred & whether sufficient evidence exists to continue process It's common during this stage of juvenile process for court & juvenile offender to enter into consent decree; this is agreement that specifies conditions youth must follow to obtain dismissal of case; sometimes called informal probation

If case doesn't end with informal probation, it must be decided whether case will be processed through juvenile justice system or transferred to adult court; consideration of seriousness of crime & any previous criminal history of offender are taken into account in this decision If case is going to be heard in juvenile court, next step is adjucatory hearing, which is similar to trial in adult court

Hearing is confidential & not open to public Judge acts as judge & jury If youth is found guilty, focus is on rehabilitation of youth rather than punishment

Dispositional hearing of juvenile case is where sentence is handed down Choices of juvenile disposition include probation & confinement in secured facility (also known as residential placement; includes places such as community halfway houses, foster homes, or training programs) Aftercare is typically provided to juvenile offender who has spent time in residential treatment facility & who is ready to transition back into society; aftercare is similar to function of parole offered to adult offenders

the due process rights of children are essentially the same as those of adults

Privacy (juvenile proceedings aren't open to public or media; witnesses must leave courtroom after testifying as well; primary purpose of this focus on privacy is to prevent juveniles from being negatively labeled by community) Informal (hearings in juvenile court are much less structured & formal than they are in adult court; 1 effect of this is that juvenile proceedings are less adversarial than adult hearings) Speed (juvenile hearings are typically completed in matter of hours or days, whereas adult proceedings commonly stretch out over months or even years; informal nature of juvenile proceedings, along with lack of jury, tends to speed up juvenile process in comparison to adult proceedings) Standard of Proof (in cases involving status offenses, standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence; this essentially means that it is more likely than not that the juvenile committed the charged offense; however, if juvenile is charged with actual crime, adult standard of beyond a reasonable doubt must be met) Court Philosophy (adult system has consistently been ineffective at rehabilitating offenders; it's for this reason that primary philosophies of adult court system are combination of incapacitation, retribution, & deterrence; juvenile court system was founded on philosophy of rehabilitation; throughout history, juvenile court has been remarkably successful with regard to this goal, & juvenile court decisions are based on best interests of child) No Right to Jury Trial (juveniles don't have right to trial by jury, & most jurisdictions don't provide statutory right to jury trial either; 6th Amendment to US Constitution guarantees this right to adults)

Referral, intake, adjucation, dispositional hearing, aftercare

Historically, US Supreme Court didn't address matters involving adjucation & processing of juveniles However, in 1960s, Court began to rule on matters touching underlying foundations of juvenile court itself Although body of US constitutional law relating to juvenile courts is vastly smaller than cases that have addressed issues involving adult system, Court has determined there are several important constitutional rights that juveniles are entitled to Juveniles have right to adequate hearings before being transferred to adult court; in Kent v. US (1966), Supreme Court 1st acknowledged that juveniles were entitled to certain due process rights US Supreme Court has ruled that juveniles have right to counsel, right to be notified of charges against them, right to confront & cross-examine witnesses, & right of protection against self-incrimination; case of In re Gault (1967) gave juveniles many of the procedural rights afforded to adults Juvenile cases involving charges of delinquency must be proved beyond reasonable doubt; before In re Winship (1970), juveniles could be adjucated for any charge under preponderance of evidence standard

Include chronic offenders, youth gangs, & treating children as adults

There are some youths for whom juvenile justice system doesn't do any good No matter how severe punishment is on their 1st offense, these youths are likely to continue committing crimes Number of youths in this category is low Youths whose 1st offense is relatively serious are more likely to become chronically delinquent Youths who receive severe punishment for their crimes are more likely to be repeat offenders into adulthood

Juvenile involved in youth gang is likely to become chronic offender due to pressure placed on members of gang to conform to expectations of group Gangs are formed around race, gender, neighborhood, & types of illegal activities such as drug distribution or robbery

Question of how juvenile delinquents should be handled has been debated for years Debate often focuses on successes & failures of juvenile justice system Those who believe that children should be treated differently point out advantages of juvenile justice system (system works toward effectively dealing with child & determining what is in child's best interest & system addresses needs of youth offender, such as youth's emotional & psychological needs) Those who believe juvenile justice system fails in dealing with juvenile offenders point out that youths are treated too leniently, that inconsistencies in punishment exist, & that due process rights aren't available to youth offenders

16th Birthday: New York, Connecticut, North Carolina 17th Birthday: Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana 18th Birthday: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, District of Colombia, Hawaii

a youth at or below the upper age of juvenile court jurisdiction in a particular state

the government agencies that function to investigate, supervise, adjucate, care for, or confine youthful offenders & other children subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court

in the broadest usage, juvenile actions or conduct in violation of criminal law, juvenile status offenses, & other juvenile misbehavior

a common law principle that allows the state (government) to assume a parental role & to take custody of a child when they become delinquent, are abandoned, or are in need of care that the natural parents are unable or unwilling to provide

any court that has jurisdiction over matters involving juveniles

Based on 5 philosophical principles: 1. State is "higher or ultimate parent" of all children within its borders 2. Children are worth saving, & nonpunitive procedures should be used to save them 3. Children should be nurtured, & while the nurturing process is under way, they should be protected from the stigmatizing impact of formal adjucatory procedures 4. To accomplish goal of reformation, justice needs to be individualized; that is, each child is different, & needs, aspirations, living conditions, & so on of each child must be known in their individual particulars if court is to be helpful 5. Noncriminal procedures are necessary to give primary consideration to child's needs; for this reason, denial of due process can be justified in face of constitutional challenges because court acts not to punish but to help

a child who commits an act that is contrary to the law by virtue of the offender's status as a child; purchasing cigarettes, buying alcohol, & being truant are examples of such behavior

a document filed in juvenile court alleging that a juvenile is a delinquent, a status offender, or a dependent & asking that court assume jurisdiction over juvenile or that alleged delinquent be transferred to criminal court for prosecution as adult

the fact-finding process wherein the juvenile court determines whether there is sufficient evidence to sustain the allegations in a petition

the decision of a juvenile court that concludes a dispositional hearing; adjucated juvenile might be committed to juvenile correctional facility, be placed in juvenile residence, shelter, or care or treatment program, be required to meet certain standards of conduct, or be released

juvenile court disposition that imposes both juvenile sanction & adult criminal sentence on adjucated delinquent; adult sentence is suspended on condition that juvenile offender successfully completes term of juvenile disposition & refrains from committing any new offense

the child savers movement