Juvenile Court Case Study

Question 1 With the first U.S. juvenile court being established in 1899, it is no surprise that much has changed since then. There are two fundamentally essential principles that accompanied the establishment of the juvenile system. First, the idea that the law should treat children differently than adults. The revolutionist thinker John Locke rightly argued that “children’s lack of reasoning capacity, which [disqualifies] them from participating in government, also [makes] them less culpable for their criminal acts” (Tanenhaus & Zimring 1). This type of thinking was the foundation needed to forge a new mentality forward. Secondly, the push for “children’s cases to be diverted from the destructive dynamics of the criminal justice system” …show more content…
With all of this in mind however, as we have been reading in the Humes text and reinforced by every guest speaker, this is what is supposed to happen, but often times that’s not really what happens at all. For example, it is extremely easy for prosecutors to get cases transferred to the adult system through fitness hearings, as well as the fact that, according to Jason, resources and programs are generally only allocated to more of the high-risk youth. This makes me question the legitimacy of the first principle. As for the second principle, I have the same concerns. I do believe some individuals within the system can argue that it is still held in today’s system because of the fact that, as mention before, juvenile records are sealed to protect them from having one or two mistakes haunt them for the rest of their lives. However, a lot of the times the courts are not effectively reforming the juveniles when they are most apt to change. As a result, they continue to recidivate, until they are 16 or 17 and can easily be turned over to adult system. This, again, makes me question whether or not the juvenile court system is really diverting these kids from the criminal justice …show more content…
Similar to that of any other corporate business, it has undergone different periods of leadership, social change, and cultural influences. Everything put aside, there are three eras that mark the juvenile justice system. First, funding. The system needed to build a solid foundation before it could start accommodating the youth that needed its help. Secondly, due process. This is exclusively shown in the 1967 In Re Gault U.S. Supreme Court case, affording juveniles the same legal rights as adults in criminal court. The third era was encompassed by the “super predator” period. This was when statisticians and other criminological experts claimed that youth crime was becoming so immense and violent that no one could control it. The media grabbed onto this information, causing mass hysteria among the U.S. population. Scared of what was to come, politicians and police departments began a period devoted to being tough on crime, especially those crimes committed by juvenile offenders. This included the “sending youth to jail and throwing away the key” mentality, thinking it would keep the public safer. Not long after, all of the data suggesting the rise of these “super predators” fell apart as the juvenile crime rate began to decrease dramatically. Since then, no more eras have been described. As our country, the world, and society pushes forward, there certainly needs to be

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