Cynthia H. Roberts
Before the establishment of juvenile courts, children under the age of seven were never held responsible for criminal acts. The law considered them incapable of forming the necessary criminal intent. Children between the ages of 7 and 14 were generally thought to be incapable of committing a criminal act, but this belief could be disproved by showing that the youth knew the act was a crime or would cause harm to another and committed it anyway. Children over the age of 14 could be charged with a crime and handled in the same manner as an adult.3
Today, all states set age limits that determine whether a person accused of a crime is treated as an adult or as a juvenile. In most states, young people are considered juveniles until age 18. However, some states set the limit at 16 and 17.
In most states, a juvenile charged with a serious crime, such as robbery or murder, can be transferred to criminal court and tried as an adult. Sometimes prosecutors make this decision, or some states that allow transfers require a hearing to consider the age and record of the juvenile, the type of crime, and the likelihood that the youth can be helped by the juvenile court. As a result of a get-tough attitude involving juvenile crime, many states have revised their juvenile codes to make it easier to transfer youthful offenders to adult court.
Recent years have seen an increase in serious crime by juveniles. This has included more violent acts, such as murder, which are often related to drugs, gangs, or both. Consequently, there has been a movement in congress and in a number of states to further reduce the age at which juveniles can be tried as adults. Some people believe all juveniles should be tried as adults if they commit certain violent crimes.
Juvenile Crime, in law, term denoting various offenses committed by children or youths under the age of 18. Such acts are sometimes referred to as juvenile delinquency. Children’s offenses typically include delinquent acts, which would be considered crimes if committed by adults, and status offenses, which are less serious misbehavior such as truancy and parental disobedience. Both are within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court; more serious offenses committed by minors may be tried in criminal court and be subject to prison sentences.
Under certain circumstances, youthful offenders can be tried either as juveniles or as adults. But even in these situations, their treatment is different from that of adults, for example, a juvenile who is arrested for an “adult” offense can be adjudicated in either juvenile court or adult court; if convicted, he or she can be placed with either other juvenile or adults. In contrast, an adult charged with the same offense would be tried in an adult court; if convicted, he or she would be incarcerated by the state and would be housed with adults.
Explaining crime and delinquency is a complex task. A multitude of factors exist that contribute to the understanding of what leads someone to engage in delinquent behavior. While biological and psychological factors hold their own merit when explaining crime and delinquency, perhaps social factors can best explain juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency is a massive and growing individual while others view delinquency as a macra level function of society.4
Many of the theories that will be presented will be applicable to at least some instances of crime and delinquency in society. Crime is such a diverse topic, that the explanation of this social problem is just as diverse. This perspective sees delinquency as a function of the surroundings or environment that a juvenile lives in. The saying, “society made me do it” could help to better understand this perspective.
The public appears much more aware of juvenile crime today than in the past; this is due in part to more thorough reporting techniques and greater emphasis on publicizing delinquent acts in the media. Official U.S. crime reports in the 1980’s, showed that about one-fifth of all persons arrested for crimes are under 18 years of age. In the 1970’s, juvenile arrests increased in almost every serious crime category, and female juvenile crime more than doubled. During the most recent five year period studied, juvenile arrests decreased slightly each year. Unofficial report, however, suggest that a higher percentage of juveniles are involved in minor criminal behavior; grossly underreported common offenses include vandalism, shoplifting, underage drinking, and using marijuana.
As students work through this unit, they will continually make and judge decisions, and they will analyze decision making by government officials and those seeking to influence government.
Responsible decision making involves careful assessment of alternative and their consequences in light of values and goals. Responsible decision makers consider the effects of their choices on themselves and various others. They will judge the fairness of their choices in terms of both individual and group goals. A responsible citizen might ask; 1) How will my decision affect me? 2) How will my decision affect various others? The responsible citizen tries to make decisions that balance the needs of the individual and of society.
This unit will conclude with actual written case studies featuring current topics, issues, and events. Each case is written to develop one or more decision-making skills can help them achieve goals they value are likely to strive to acquire these competencies.
Objectives:
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1). Help students acquire knowledge and skills needed to carry out their responsibilities and rights.
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2). Help students increase their thinking skills and decision making process.
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3). Help students understand causes of juvenile crime.
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4). Help students understand the juvenile system.
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5). Help students use skills in finding, comprehending, organizing, communicating information, and ideas.
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6). Apply questions to decision-making situations.
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7). Identify the role of the courts and the juvenile.
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8). Increasing student vocabulary.
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9). Identify the role of the Juvenile Court.
The juvenile justice system has evolved over the years based on the premise that juveniles are different from adults and juveniles who commit criminal acts generally should be treated differently from adults. Separate courts, detention facilities, rules, procedures, and laws were created for juveniles with the intent to protect their welfare and rehabilitate them, while protecting public safety.
The root causes of crime are many and diverse. Any hope of addressing those causes successfully requires multi-faceted strategies, bits and pieces of which can be implemented by neighborhoods, communities and various levels of government. There is no silver bulletno simple, expedient answer that can be imposed from above. Any solution to juvenile crime must involve all sectors of society: individuals, families, schools, churches, community groups, governments and businesses. While the scope of effort involved should be as broad as all of society.
Each state should have particular “ownership” of the juvenile crime problems. The inclination toward crime often arises from factors at home; the impact of crime is felt in neighborhoods; the arrests, prosecutions and, in most cases, dispositions are city and county operations. Only 2 percent of juveniles arrested eventually are placed in state institutions. While the state is a bit player in the day-to-day staging of the juvenile justice system, it has the ability and responsibility to carve out a powerful role as a policy leader and facilitator for local solutions.
Prevention works better and is cheaper than treatment. The sobering reality is that improving to the optimum extent how juvenile criminals are treated once they are apprehended will only reduce recidivism by at most 10 percent. While keeping 10 percent from continually recycling through the juvenile justice systemand ultimately, the adult systemwould free significant resources, the fact is that prevention and early intervention hold far more promise than good rehabilitation programs for actually reducing crime. Children are much harder to “fix” once they have become criminals than they are when they first show signs of deviant or anti-social behavior.5
Personal accountability for actions and decisions is the cornerstone of a civilized society. Children should be taughtboth at home and in schoolsinformed decision-making processes. And they should learn that, in theory and in practice, there are swift consequences for poor decisions and both tangible and intangible rewards for good decisions. To reinforce these lessons, all of the actors within the juvenile justice system, from the policeman on the beat to the judge in juvenile court, must strive to make the system work more effectively in providing consequences at all levels of criminal severity.
The juvenile justice system is a complex web of people and agencies that processes about a quarter of a million youths annually at a cost exceeding $1 billion. To understand the system requires a baseline knowledge of the statistical trends during the past decade that have shaped the system’s ability to function and the roles played by the various components of the system.
Academic experts have long recognized that crime is a young man’s game. The typical criminal is a male who begins his career at 14 or 15, continues thorough his mid-20s and then tapers off into retirement. Three statistics demonstrate the disproportionate impact of those under the age of 18 on criminal activity; while comprising roughly one-sixth of the nation’s population, they make up a full one-quarter of all people arrested and account for nearly one-third of the arrests for the seven crimes in the uniform crime index(homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, vehicle theft and larceny).
Statistics show that somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of all boys growing up in an urbanized area in the United States will be arrested before their 18th birthday…although juveniles account for only a small proportion of the total population, older juveniles have the highest arrest rates of any age group. Furthermore, studies of criminal careers have demonstrated that one of the best predictors of sustained and serious adult criminality is the age of initiation and seriousness of the delinquent career.6
Risk factorsResearch shows a small number of juveniles commit crime. Furthermore, of those juveniles who do commit one or two offenses. For these individuals, the experience of the juvenile justice systembeing arrested by a law enforcement officer, facing their parents, having to spend a night in juvenile hall, interacting with a probation officer or a judgeis enough to keep them from offending again.
Failure in schoolthis factor manifests itself at an early age. Failure at school includes poor academic performance, poor attendance, or more likely, explusion or dropping out of school. This is an important factor for predicting future criminal behavior. Leaving school early reduces the chance that juveniles will develop the “social” skills that are gained in school, such as learning to meet deadlines, following instructions, and being able to deal constructively with their peers.
Social Factors -- Changes in the American social structure may indirectly affect juvenile crime rates. For example, changes in the economy that lead to fewer job opportunities for youth and rising unemployment in general. This factor includes a history of criminal activity in the family. It also includes juveniles who have been subject to sexual or physical abuse, neglect, or abandonment. It is also manifested by a lack of parental control over the child.
Families have also experienced changes with the last 25 years. More families consist of one-parent households or two working parents; consequently, children are likely to have less supervision at home that was common in the traditional family structure. This lack of parental supervision is thought to be an influence on juvenile crime rates. Other identifiable causes of delinquent acts include frustration or failure in school, the increased availability of drugs and alcohol, and the growing incidence of child abuse and child neglect. All these conditions tend to increase the probability of a child committing a criminal act, although a direct causal relationship has not yet been established.
Families are important to consider when trying to explain juvenile delinquency. The family unit is crucial to a child’s development and healthy upbringing, in addition, much of what a child learns is through their family or guardians. A criminal parent can teach their child adverse lessons about life when their child views or witnesses their parent’s delinquent behavior.
Peer can also teach an adolescent or child criminal behavior just as the family member can. Family members and peers can also cause delinquent patterns of behavior by labeling their child as delinquent. This is somewhat of the “if the shoe fits, wear it” saying. If a child feels as though they are viewed as delinquent, then they will act as such and find a sense of self-esteem by doing so.
Treatment of Offenders – The juvenile justice system tries to treat and rehabilitate youngsters who become involved in delinquency. The methods can be categorized as community treatment, and institutionalization.
In most instances community treatment involves placing the child on probation. When the child is not believed to be harmful to others, he or she is placed under the supervision of an officer of the juvenile court and must abide by the specific rules that are worked out between the officer and the child. In some instances community treatment also takes the form of restitution, in which the child reimburses the victim either through direct payment or through some form of work or public service.
Each activity will challenge students to use information, ideas, and skills. These application exercises will allow students to move from lower to higher cognitive levels. Students will not only read about making decisions, they will practice making and judging decisions. They will use skills in finding, comprehending, organizing, evaluating, and communicating information and ideas. Through regular application of these skills, students may demonstrate competence.
