Detention Reform From a Judge's Viewpoint (From Reforming Juvenile Detention: No More Hidden Closets, P 162-175, 1994, Ira M Schwartz and William H Barton, eds. -- See NCJ-166824)

• NCJ Number: 166834
• Author(s): S McCully
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Ohio State University Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper encourages juvenile court judges to be active participants in detention reform, to help them recognize that detention may be seriously harmful, and that it curtails or deprives the liberty of more juveniles around the Nation than any other part of the juvenile justice system.

Abstract

Most juvenile court statutes specify certain basic standards for the detention of juveniles. They are to compel appearance, to protect the community by preventing further delinquent activity pending adjudication, and to protect the juvenile. Using these standards as the foundation, judges should be encouraged and should encourage their colleagues to objectify these standards to the extent possible without unduly limiting necessary judicial discretion. Judges should embrace guidelines for detention decisionmaking as a tool for exercising discretion in a responsible manner. Guidelines that limit the use of detention also tend to force the development of alternatives to detention. Because courts are hard-pressed to justify to the public limiting the use of detention given the public's concern about serious juvenile crime, reformers, including judges, should involve other parts of the community in detention reform efforts, including the police, legislators, and the general public. Judges should take a proactive role in limiting their own uses of detention and in encouraging the development of alternatives to traditional secure detention. A list of six legal cases