Download History of JJ Part I

A History of the Juvenile
Justice System
The Nutshell Version, Anyhow
Two Central Issues
1. Why should kids who commit crimes be
treated any differently than adults?
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At what age should a child be held criminally
responsible for their actions?
At what age does a kid cease to become a
“kid?”
2. If kids should be treated differently, how
should they be treated?
Pre-Middle Ages
• Code of Hammurabi (2270 b.c.)
• Other Examples
– Roman civil and church law
– Ancient Jewish and Moslem laws
Middle Ages (500-1500ad)
• 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
Middle Ages II
• 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”
England 1500-1700
• 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”
Colonial America
• Until the late 1700sEnglish Common
Law
– Prison uncommon, many children found
“innocent” to spare them corporal punishment
U.S. 1775-1825
1. The Industrial Revolution
2. The Birth of the Penitentiary
3. “Gentleman Reformers”
Result of these trends: Houses of Refuge
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Ex Parte Crouse (1839)
And later, “Industrial” and “Reform” schools
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People ex rel. O’Connell V. Turner (1870)
The “Child Saving Movement”
• 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
Progressive Era (1900-1930)
• The Progressives
– Optimists + Faith in Government
• General = sanitation, poverty, unsafe labor…
• Juveniles = compulsory education, helped shape
juvenile justice system
The Juvenile Court Movement
• 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
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Informal, closed proceedings with sealed records
Medical model of “diagnosing” social ills
Age = 15 years and younger
Probation Officers to investigate and rehabilitate
J.C. Spreads (1900-1950)
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45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1899
1905
1909
1927
1950
Innovation and Stability
• 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”
Winds of Change 1960-1975
• 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?
Strange Bedfellows
• 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
Constitutional Domestication
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Kent vs. United States (1961)
In Re Gault (1967)
In Re Winship (1970)
Breed v. Jones (1975)
• Justice Stewarts Dissent Opinion in Gault
From Cox et. al (Your Book)
• “Legalists”
• “Case Workers” (Social Work)
OJJDP and DSO
• 1967 President Johnson’s “Commission on Law
Enforcement and Administration of Justice.”
• 1974 Congress enacts “Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention Act.”
– Creation of OJJDP
– Decriminalization, Deinstitutionalization, elimination of court
authority over status offenders
• Mass. “deinstitutionalization” experiment
Getting “Tough” 1980-2000
• 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
How have we gotten “tough?”
• Legislative Policy
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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
Where is policy now
• Crime in general is not “high profile” issue
• OJJDP 1993 Comprehensive Strategy
• Barry Feld’s “Criminological triage”
Research For Debates and
Papers
• 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)