Juvenile Justice

The Juvenile Justice System as it typically functions in America's thousands of jurisdictions is the subject that will be covered. The Juvenile Justice System is defined as that "sociologic process having responsibility and authority for public reaction to current

juvenile delinquency and deterrence of future juvenile delinquency, including within that process the public and private agents, agencies, laws, rules, and policies having to do with juvenile delinquency"(Weiner, 1987, p.12). This paper will deal with the history of the juvenile system, the need for the juvenile system, juvenile court functions, parents in

court and programs that have worked, along with ones that haven't. Because the first normal juvenile court was so labeled on July 1, 1899, which would make the Juvenile Justice System nearly a century old. However, the origins of the various components of the JJS go back much further than that. The notion of separate treatment for children under criminal law goes back to a very early English law. Children under seven years of age were legally incapable of committing a crime, and children between seven and fourteen were presumed incapable, this concept being based upon a child's inability to have a guilty mind, or mens rea. Thus, from almost the beginning children have been treated differently from adults who commit the same acts. The origin of juvenile corrections in the United States goes, back at least to the opening of the New York House of Refuge in 825. This house of refuge was established to meet the same kinds of needs the JJS of today tries to meet, including avoidance of harsh criminal penalties for unfortunate children, segregating "predeliquent" children from hardened delinquents, providing "proper" moral, ethical, political, and social values and role models for deprived children, and treating such children as victims rather than offenders. This is the main reason why we do need the Juvenile Justice System.

The function of the juvenile court system is to take a somewhat fatherly and protective attitude toward children, whether to offer humanitarian assistance or parental punishment. Juvenile court was primarily established however by a desire to avoid prisons for children by establishing special juvenile court which would not send children to prison. The juvenile court is also used to somewhat scare the young offender with its dark wooden atmosphere and flags to represent how alive the government is. The courts main function however is to find the best rehabilitation method for that individual. Should it be community service, a curfew or counseling, these are just a few options the court has in sentencing a young offender. Parents play a big role in the Juvenile Court System. With the parents at the court hearing, the court can find out if the parent is providing a good home for the juvenile delinquent. The parents also help out in making the decision of

rehabilitation, with there past experiences that they bring to the court about the juvenile. Parents can also help out in supervision of the juvenile while he or she is on orders from the court. Most of all, parents are there for moral support of there children and help them get through this difficult run in with the law.

The best treatment for many offenders, diversion