NCJ Number
78228
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This inservice training film presents a panel of probation and police officers from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York, who discuss the juvenile justice measures and legislative provisions of their respective jurisdictions in relation to three illustrative incidents of juvenile delinquency.
Abstract
The filmed incidents viewed and commented on by the panel show in each case a group of juveniles involved in disruptive or dangerous activity and its interruption by a law enforcement officer. The first scene presents a noisy sidewalk ballgame which is broken up by a police officer because of a citizen complaint. Among the panelists' comments is a criticism of the officer for failing to ensure that the boys were dispersed since they resumed their game once the officer was gone. The subsequent scene shows teenagers drinking alcohol in a public playground and their attempt to conceal this fact from a patrol officer, who warns them about such behavior. In the third incident youths are first apprehended for driving unaccompanied by an adult. Upon stopping them, the officer discovers alcohol in their possession, discovers that the car is a stolen vehicle, and makes an arrest. Prompted by these incidents, members of the panel make reference to a variety of law enforcement problems, including the legal definition of misdemeanors, police discretion and behaviors that foster juvenile hostility against authority, safeguarding the rights of arrested delinquents, and the nature of the juvenile court.