CHAPTER 16

Juvenile Corrections: End of an Era?

Chapter Objectives

1.      Explain parens patriae and describe the historical origins of the U.S. system of juvenile justice.

2.      Summarize six U.S. Supreme Court cases that changed modern-day juvenile court proceedings.

3.      Discuss the two types of juvenile crime and explain the nature of juvenile court jurisdiction.

4.      List and explain the three stages of the juvenile justice process.

5.      Explain how youth gangs affect juvenile correctional institutions.

6.      Elaborate upon changes now taking place in the area of juvenile corrections.

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Chapter Outline

I. History of the Juvenile Justice System

·        The historical origins of America’s juvenile justice system can be traced to early England.

·        Both the English and American juvenile justice systems utilize the doctrine of parens patriae, which means literally “parent of his country.”

·        According to parens patriae, the state has the power to act as guardian for minors and for people who are mentally incompetent.

A. Houses of Refuge

·        The New York House of Refuge was the first legally chartered American custodial institution for juvenile offenders.

·        Living conditions in houses of refuge were not as generous as the term refuge might imply.

·        Juveniles were subjected to hard physical labor and exposed to corporal punishment.

B. Reform Schools

·        The first state-sponsored reform school opened in Massachusetts in 1848.

·        The institution resembled a prison.

·        European-style reform school introduced a small residential arrangement, breaking down structural barriers so that staff and inmates could interact, providing a more intimate setting for treatment.

·        The first of the European-style reform school was the Lancaster Industrial School for Girls in Massachusetts, established in 1854.

C. Industrial Schools

·        After the civil war, juvenile reform school had to help pay operating costs by contracting inmate labor to local manufacturers.

D. The First Juvenile Court

·        In 1899, the first completely separate juvenile court was established in Chicago, Illinois.

·        The intent of the new legislation was to provide a jurisdiction where the child’s best interests would be served.

II. The U.S. Supreme Court and the Juvenile Justice System

A. Kent v. United States (1966)

·        In a case involving transfer of jurisdiction, the juvenile defendant is entitled to certain essential due process rights:

o    A hearing

o    Representation by an attorney

o    Access to records involved in the transfer

o    A written statement of reasons for the transfer

B. In re Gault (1967)

·        In proceedings that might result in commitment to an institution, juveniles have the right to:

o    Reasonable notice of charges

o    Counsel

o    Question witnesses

o    Protection against self-incrimination

C. In re Winship (1970)

·        The reasonable doubt standard should be required in all delinquency adjudications.

D. McKeiver v. Pennsylvania (1971)

·        The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not require jury trials in juvenile court.

E. Breed v. Jones (1975)

·        Juvenile adjudication for violation of a criminal statute is equivalent to a criminal court trial; therefore the double jeopardy clause applied.

F. Schall v. Martin (1984)

·        Preventive detention serves a legitimate government objective in protecting both the juvenile and society from pretrial crime and is not intended to punish the juvenile.

G. Limits on Punishment

·        Beginning in 2005 with the case of Roper v. Simmons, the Supreme Court turned its attention to juvenile punishments.

·        In Miller, the key word is mandatory, meaning that state laws requiring such a penalty for these offenses are invalid.

H. Impact of Decisions on Juvenile Court

·        The above decisions affirmed juvenile due process rights.

·        The “best interest of the child” are no longer the only concern for juvenile courts; they must also protect the juvenile’s constitutional rights.

III. The Contemporary Juvenile Justice System

·        Courts with juvenile jurisdiction are generically referred to as juvenile courts. In most states, the juvenile court has original jurisdiction over all youths under age 18 at the time of offense.

A. Juvenile Crime

·        According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), juveniles accounted for 12 percent of all 2011 arrests and12.7 percent of all 2011 violent crime arrests.

·        Most juvenile arrests were for property crime offenses.

·        More than 90 percent of the cases handled by juvenile courts are for delinquent offenses.

·        The remaining cases are for status offenses— acts that are considered offenses only when they are committed by juveniles.

B. Bullying

       According to a recent survey of more than 43,000 school-age children, 45 percent of boys and 50 percent of girls said that they had been bullied, teased, or taunted in a way that seriously upset them at least once during the past 12 months.

·        According to the U.S. Department of Education, bullying can have a number of negative consequences for those who are bullied, including:

o    Lowered academic achievement and aspirations

o    Increased anxiety

o    Loss of self-esteem and confidence

o    Depression and post-traumatic stress

o    General deterioration in physical health

o    Self-harm and suicidal thinking

o    Feelings of alienation in the school environment, such as fear of other children

o    Absenteeism from school

IV. The Juvenile Justice Process

A. Intake

·        The first phase of the juvenile justice process.

·        The intake officer recommends that the case be:

o    Dismissed

o    Resolved informally (no petition is filed with the court)

o    Resolved formally (a petition for an adjudication hearing is filed with the court) transferred to adult criminal court. 

Informal disposition

·        Disposition is decided by the intake officer, and the case goes no further.

Formal disposition

·        The intake officer files a petition for an adjudicatory hearing and decides whether the youth should be confined while awaiting the hearing.

Detention hearing

·        If the intake officer decides that secure placement is advisable, the youth is taken to a juvenile detention facility.

·        A juvenile who is placed in a detention facility by an intake officer must have a detention hearing, usually within 48 hours.

·        At this hearing the court reviews the intake officer’s confinement decisions and orders either release on continued detention pending adjudication and disposition.

·        The court may also appoint a guardian ad litem, who serves as a special guardian for the youth throughout the court proceedings.

B. Adjudication

·        In the second phase of the juvenile justice process, adjudication, a juvenile court hears the case.

·        A juvenile court is any court that has original jurisdiction over matters involving juveniles.

Adjudicatory hearing

       At this hearing, attorneys typically present physical evidence examine and cross-examine witnesses, and argue on behalf of their clients.

C. Disposition

·        In the third phase, a predisposition report is typically reviewed by the                    court.

Predisposition Report

·        A predisposition report typically includes:

o    Medical and psychological background

o    Educational

o    History

o    Information gathered from interviews with the juvenile, family members, and other people who know the youth

o    Availability of appropriate placement options

o    Recommendations for suitable disposition.

·        Any treatment “needs” of the youth are also considered.

Disposition hearing

·        The court imposes the appropriate sanction at this hearing.

·        Another sanction that may be imposed is referral to a group home. Group homes are operated by private agencies under contract with local or state government or by the public corrections unit under direction of the juvenile court.

·        Another community-based program is the residential treatment center.

·        A few states have responded to violent juvenile crime by enacting blended sentencing legislation in which the juvenile court may impose both a juvenile sentence and an adult criminal sentence.

D.Juvenile Correctional Facilities

·        Juvenile corrections functions are placed in various state agencies by the different states.

·        Operating budgets for the agencies ranged from $642 million (Florida) to about $10 million (North Dakota).

·        Nationwide, the number of delinquency cases involving detention increased 29 percent between 1985 and 2009, from 246,300 to 318,000.

·        Of more than 200,000 youths under correction supervision throughout the nation, 14 percent were placed in the most restrictive settings, such as training schools and detention centers, while 66 percent were placed in community-based programs like probation, day treatment, and outreach programs.

Security in Juvenile Facilities

·        The use of fences, walls, and surveillance equipment is increasingly common in juvenile facilities, although security hardware is generally not as elaborate as that found in adult jails and prisons.

·        Overall, a larger proportion of committed juveniles than detained juveniles were determined to be held in facilities that relied primarily on staff security.

Crowding

·        A large proportion of private facilities (30 percent) said they were operating at 100 percent capacity.

Females in Custody

·        Females account for a small proportion of the juvenile custody population, but their numbers have increased recently.

Staff in Juvenile Correctional Facilities

·        Direct care staff was defined to include staff members at secure and nonsecure residential facilities who have routine contact with youths under correctional supervision.

·        When speaking of youths in custody, a distinction should be made between detained and committed youths.

E. Evidence-Based Practice and Juvenile Corrections

·        Few studies have focused on reducing recidivism among juvenile offenders.

·        Effective strategies or treating and rehabilitating juvenile offenders

o    Prevention programming

o    Continuum of pretrial and sentencing placement options

o    Services and sanctions

o    Aftercare programs 

F. Transfer to Adult Criminal Court

·        Juveniles may be transferred to adult criminal court under one of three provisions:

o    Waiver provisions,

o    Direct file provisions, or

o    Statutory exclusion provisions.

G. Teen Courts

·        Teen courts generally use one of four models: Adult Judge, Youth Judge, Tribunal, or Peer Jury.

·        In the majority of cases, young defendants admit their wrongdoing or plead no contest to be eligible for teen court..

·        Very few teen courts determine guilt or innocence.

·        Offenders are sentenced by their peers.

V. Youth Gangs

·        All states, and nearly all large cities, reported youth gang problems.

·        The latest National Youth Gang Survey (NYGC) estimates that 99% of large cities have reported multiple years of gang problems.

·        According to the FBI, a gang is “a criminal enterprise having an organizational structure, acting as a continuing criminal conspiracy, which employs violence and any other criminal activity to sustain the enterprise.”

·        The term youth gang tends to emphasize the age of a gang’s members and is usually applied to gangs consisting of members between the ages of 12 and 24.

·        According to the OJJDP, the phrase street gang refers to an organized group of people on the street, often engaged in significant illegitimate or criminal activity.

VI. Juvenile Justice Reform

·        Since it was founded in 1870, the ACA has advocated juvenile justice reform (Exhibit 16–11 ). In a recent campaign for juvenile justice reform, the ACA called for:

o    Legislative and community action to fund and operate early intervention strategies

o    Support of continued research and responsible action based on the results of research already available on prevention programs that work

o    Support of system reforms that allow juvenile justice officials family, social, educational, and other agencies and institutions to relate to a specific child and to work together for the best interests of the child, including accountability or shared use of confidential information about children at risk

o    Support of programs that address the causes of violent and delinquent activity in communities

o    Opposition to efforts to establish automatic certification of juvenile offenders to adult status for certain offenses opposition to determinate sentencing for juvenile offenders

o    Support of the use of confidential systems for information sharing about juvenile offenders

A. Improving the Juvenile Justice System for Girls

·        In 2012, the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy released a report on improving the juvenile justice system for girls.

·        The existing juvenile justice system was originally designed for delinquent boys and doesn’t adequately recognize the needs of girls.

·        The Center concluded its report with a number of policy recommendations that it hopes will be enacted at the federal level.