Juvenile Justice History

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When looking through the history of Juvenile Justice there is a lot of trial and error. Especially since it pertains to juveniles, and the criminal justice system. Kids were starting to cause trouble and strife, which left the justice system wondering where they should be placed. The first family court to take place was in Chicago, Illinois in 1899. This is the first happenings of a juvenile court system. The reason why this was happening was because of the violence going on among juveniles. Juveniles were becoming extremely violent, and aggressive. The goal among this first court and the rest of the juvenile justice from then on was to deter juvenile delinquents. One of the way of doing this through the juvenile court was to have a due process …show more content…

This established that children are responsible for their actions against the law. Of course most children were not severely punished as an adult would be. If something got stolen they may get flogged instead of getting a capital offense. The only children totally spared against capital punishment were those who were impaired. In addition, from the Roman and common law came the common law in the 11th and 12th century. Children who were over the age of 14 were considered adults, and were to be punished as so. From this came the form of the word of mens rea also known as “guilty mind” which is how the Juvenile Justice continue their proceedings today. Furthermore, the next important stage in history was during the 15 century with the King of England. It was knowns as chancery courts which literally means to help or intervene in a situation of death, abandonment, abuse, etc. This also lead to the king having parens patria which stands for “parents of the country.” In return this also means that the king would take the place of the parents. Another important time in history for juveniles was when they had the Hospital of St. Michael’s as a treatment for juvenile