NCJ Number
85456
Journal
Today's Delinquent Volume: 1 Dated: (1982) Pages: 25-38
Date Published
1982
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Court rulings requiring due process procedures for juvenile court hearings and law and order legislative efforts to make the juvenile law and dispositions more punitive threaten to destroy the unique intent of the juvenile justice system and make it little more than a criminal justice system for juveniles.
Abstract
The original intent of the creation of a juvenile justice system separate from the adult criminal justice system was to provide a rehabilitation orientation toward juveniles that contrasted with the punitive approach to justice reflected in the criminal justice system. Belief in the fulfillment of the intent of the juvenile justice system began to erode when rehabilitation expectations were not met. Lengthy institutionalizations of problem juveniles were noted by civil libertarians, and they clamored for due process rights for juveniles in hearings. The U.S. Supreme Court responded to these pleas in the cases of Kent, Gault, and Winship so that juveniles were given many of the constitutional safeguards afforded adults in criminal trials. While civil libertarians were seeking to increase safeguards for juveniles in hearings, persons alarmed by perceptions that juvenile crime, particularly violent crime, was increasing influenced the enactment of State legislation that would transfer serious juvenile offenders to adult courts and increase the punitive and social control orientation of the juvenile justice system. These dual trends of increasing constitutional safeguards for juveniles while adopting a more punitive approach toward juveniles are moving the juvenile justice system ever closer to becoming a criminal justice system for criminals under the age of 18.