NCJ Number
165384
Journal
Future of Children Volume: 6 Issue: 3, Executive Summary Dated: (Winter 1996) Pages: 1-7
Date Published
1996
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This executive summary of articles on the juvenile court provides an overview analysis of the court and offers recommendations for its improvement.
Abstract
The juvenile court was created nearly 100 years ago in recognition of the fact that children are developmentally different from adults and that those differences should be taken into account when addressing legal matters that involve children. Today, the juvenile court hears more delinquency and child abuse and neglect cases than ever before. The court also handles status offense cases. The juvenile court has great power in each type of case it hears; it can remove children from their homes, terminate parental rights, and place delinquent youths in secure detention. In recent years, the juvenile court's authority and responsibility have undergone a great deal of change. In delinquency actions, the court has struggled to provide juveniles with the constitutional due process protections mandated by U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 expanded the court's role in child abuse and neglect cases to include monitoring public child welfare agencies and ensuring that appropriate decisions about safe and permanent homes are conducted in a timely manner. Promising trends that can help the court remain viable and meet the challenges before it include improved coordination of branches of the court addressing family issues and better use of alternative dispute resolution to reduce the number of formal court proceedings. Twelve recommendations include the recommendation that juvenile courts be at the level of the highest trial court of general jurisdiction in each State. Another recommendation is that all judges and other judicial officers serving in a juvenile division or juvenile court be required to have intensive and ongoing training, not only in the statutory and case law that governs delinquency, status offense, and dependency matters, but also in child development, cultural factors, resources for families, the court's relationship with and duties toward social welfare agencies, and research findings regarding rehabilitative interventions. Summaries of each of 11 articles in this journal issue are included.