NCJ Number
200505
Date Published
2002
Length
498 pages
Annotation
This textbook describes the workings of the juvenile justice system in America.
Abstract
Comprising nine main chapters, this textbook addresses law and process within the juvenile justice system and begins by presenting a history of juvenile justice systems from Biblical and Medieval Europe to present-day American court cases. Focusing on juvenile delinquency, status offenses, abuse, and developmental stages, the second chapter notes that there are three primary classes of children who appear before the juvenile courts for service. These classes include delinquents, status offenders, and the abused and neglected. The third chapter addresses the search, seizure, investigation, and interrogation of juveniles through definitions and court case examples. The fourth chapter details the process for delinquent criminal youths by providing flow charts of the juvenile justice system and by presenting “brain exercises” in order to allow the reader to determine effective due process. Child abuse and neglect are the focus of chapter 5, with the author highlighting cases in which the child is in need of legal services but the State does not choose to prosecute the case as a crime against a child. Chapter 6 discusses crimes against children, focusing on the difficulties in ascertaining the number of crimes against children and the prosecution of these crimes. In the next chapter, child custody, support, and termination of parental rights hearings are discussed, with numerous examples presented in order to illustrate these terms. Legal and policy issues that affect children are the focus of the eighth chapter. The last primary chapter of this textbook details prevention programming aimed at keeping juveniles out of the legal system. Appendices discussing research topics and the United States Constitution are followed by an extensive glossary and index.