NCJ Number
201347
Journal
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2003 Pages: 289-299
Date Published
July 2003
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article examines the changes in juvenile justice policy from its birth through the present day.
Abstract
The juvenile justice system was founded on the belief that children should be treated, rather than punished and should not be exposed to the harshness of the adult criminal justice system. However, recent policy and law shifts have created a juvenile justice system that mirrors its adult counterpart. The rhetoric surrounding juvenile justice is about punishment and sanctions, rather than treatment and protection. In many cases, the juvenile justice system seems content to transfer youth to adult courts and correctional facilities. The authors begin their historical analysis by examining some of the most drastic legal changes regarding the status of children in American society. Three major areas of change are highlighted: changes within the justice system that are increasingly allowing children to be treated as adults when they commit a crime, changes within the educational system that increasingly restrict the rights of students, and changes within the community that increasingly restrict the movement of youth. Juvenile system in America is moving in a backward fashion; rather than becoming more treatment-based, juvenile justice is swinging toward the opposite pendulum and implying increasingly punitive sanctions on children despite their age. Research should focus on the inconsistencies created by a system that is willing to treat children as adults in criminal matters but as children in civil matters. References