Overview Of The Juvenile Justice System

The world’s first juvenile court was created in Chicago, Illinois, in 1899. This occurred due to hundreds of kids fluctuating in and out of the criminal justice system in the late 19th century. In 1882, there were more than 250 children under the age of 14 incarcerated in the Cook County jail, with at least 20 of them under the age of 11 (Myers, 2013). Many of these children were serving time for minor infractions, yet they were being treated as adults. David Tanenhaus, author of Juvenile Justice in the Making, told the story of a 10-year-old boy who served almost two weeks in an adult county jail for stealing a pair of shoes (Meyers, 2013). With this, he exclaimed that these situations galvanized social reformers. To monitor and minimize

11). The primary purpose of these systems is to divert youthful offenders from the destructive punishments of criminal courts and encourage rehabilitation based on the individual juvenile’s needs (“Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice,” n.d.). These systems have evolved over time in an attempt to find the correct approach to juvenile justice.

The United States juvenile justice system is utilized when an individual under the age of 18 violates the law. This system is less formal, with usually no jury; however, a juvenile can request a jury. This court appearance discusses what happened and why while obtaining more confidentiality than the adult justice system. Although these court appearances are less formal, they still follow standard court procedures. A more informal resolution for juvenile offenders often focuses on diversion. Diversion tactics often include probation, fines, counseling, apology letters, and detention. Within the juvenile justice system, transfer laws allow the transference of a juvenile offender from the jurisdiction of the juvenile court to the adult criminal court. The first transfer law, statutory exclusion, accounts for the most significant number of juveniles

Both justice systems believe in the rehabilitation of their youth offenders. Under a specific age limit, both systems believe that youth offenders require intervention and mediation. Following this belief in restoration, both systems attempt to follow restorative justice practices. These practices aim to guide juvenile offenders to take responsibility for their actions and learn from them. Both countries also take an individualized approach rather than a generalized approach regarding the conviction. Although age limits are in place, these systems evaluate each individual’s situation and assess them based on the case presented. This allows the juvenile to be sentenced appropriately. When assessing an individual and their circumstances, both systems have minimum and maximum ages of criminal responsibility. The age of a juvenile significantly impacts the resolution of the crime committed, as it helps to determine the effective route when sentencing