NCJ Number
93558
Editor(s)
M W Klein
Date Published
1984
Length
232 pages
Annotation
Representatives of eight North American and Western nations describe the policies and procedures of their nations' juvenile justice systems, highlighting the systems' common and unique elements and comparing them structurally, legally, and philosophically.
Abstract
Juvenile justice systems of the United States, Canada, England and Wales, Israel, Holland, the Federal Republic of Germany, Denmark, and Sweden are described. Each presentation includes a system chart describing the structure of that nations juvenile justice system. Core concerns of each presentation are the minimum and maximum ages of juveniles under the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system, handling of status offenders, and discretion exercised by various professional groups associated with juvenile processing. Attention is also given to the interaction of juvenile justice systems with various community services and welfare systems. The use of diversion is considered, along with the possibilities of bias in the selection or treatment of clients and cross-national trends in the practice and philosophy of juvenile justice. The concluding chapter draws implications for the variability in juvenile justice philosophy and practice developed in the presentations. Chapter notes and references are provided. For individual documents, see NCJ 93559-66.