Juvenile Justice: Lessons For a New Era

• NCJ Number: 230454
• Journal: Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy Volume: 16 Dated: 2009 Pages: 483-542
• Author(s): Mark Soler; Dana Shoenberg; Mark Schindler
• Date Published: 2009
• Length: 60 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Symposium Issue 2009 for additional articles see NCJ-230452-53, and NCJ-230455-59.

Annotation

Based on lessons cited from the last 15 years of juvenile justice research and practice, this article proposes reforms in juvenile justice at the Federal, State, and local levels based on this research.

Abstract

Reforms proposed include approaches for reducing reliance on incarceration, improving conditions of confinement, strengthening juvenile rehabilitation and treatment programs, reducing prosecutions of youth in the adult criminal justice system, providing better protections for youth tried as adults, addressing the gender-specific needs of girls, and reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system. The article first reviews the background of public perceptions and thought in the juvenile justice field in the early and mid-1990s. It then discusses the new research and experience in the key areas of the evaluation of juvenile rehabilitation and treatment programs, differences between adolescents and adults, the prosecution of youth in adult criminal court, the needs of delinquent girls, the need to improve juvenile confinement conditions, the destructive effects of incarceration, and the existence of racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice processing. The article concludes with recommendations for key changes in juvenile justice policy and practice that logically follow from the relatively new body of knowledge about what is most effective in changing youths' delinquent behaviors. Reform recommendations are listed under the following general topics: effective violence prevention and treatment programs, developmentally appropriate juvenile and criminal justice systems, the needs of girls in the juvenile justice system, the elimination of dangerous and abusive practices in juvenile facilities, the inappropriate use of incarceration, and racial and ethnic inequities in the juvenile justice system. The proposed reforms under each of these broad areas are distinguished for application at the Federal level and at the State and local levels. 429 notes