NCJ Number
138731
Date Published
1992
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This chapter reviews the failed reform efforts of the juvenile court since its inception and outlines current options for remedying it.
Abstract
A half century after full implementation of the juvenile court system as an institution mandated to provide the services and care needed for deviant youth to become properly socialized, the U.S. Supreme Court said this about how a juvenile was typically managed by juvenile courts: "...he gets neither the protection accorded to adults nor the solicitous care and regenerative treatment postulated for children." (Kent v. United States, 1966). In the 1960's, the U.S. Supreme Court announced children's entitlements to the right to counsel (Gault, 1967) and the right to receive a fair hearing (Kent, 1966; Gault, 1967; McKeiver v. Pennsylvania, 1971). Despite these rulings, juvenile-court reform efforts over the past quarter of a century have been disappointing. Children's rights are still in peril in the juvenile court. Many dispositions are still made without due process, and institutionalization has mushroomed. Options for addressing the situation are either to abolish the juvenile court system or to take steps to protect the rights of children in juvenile courts. Abolition would destroy what is beneficial in the juvenile court system and pose the problem of whether or not to handle youth differently in adult court dispositions. Retention of the juvenile court system should be accompanied by new laws to mandate appointment of counsel for all youth, the use of public defenders with juveniles, State control of juvenile corrections, limits on court dispositional powers, rigid criteria for juvenile detention, and experimentation with court diversion programs. 4 notes and 14 references