Juvenile court

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Juvenile courts or young offender courts are courts specifically created and given authority to try and pass judgments for crimes committed by persons who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal systems, crimes committed by children and minors are treated differently and differentially (unless severe, like murder) regarding the same crimes committed by adults.

1 Purpose of Juvenile Court
2 United States of America
3 Reform
4 External Links
5 References

[edit] Purpose of Juvenile Court

One of the purposes it was founded on was to give young, impressionable youth a second chance, supposedly offering counseling and other programs for rehabilitation, as plain punishment was deemed less beneficial.

[edit] United States of America

In all but two states, anyone charged with commiting a criminal act before his eighteenth birthday is initially processed as a juvenile defendant. In New York and North Carolina, however, the minimum age at which all accused persons are charged as adults is 16.

The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1967, that children accused in a juvenile deliquency proceeding have the rights to due process, counsel, and against self-incrimination. Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Abe Fortas wrote, "Under our Constitution, the condition of being a boy does not justify a kangaroo court." ^[1]

[edit] Reform

In his 1997 book No Matter How Loud I Shout, a study of the Los Angeles' Juvenile Courts, Edward Humes argued that the system is in need of a revolutionary reform. He stated that the system sends too many children with good chances of rehabilitation to adult court, while pushing aside and acquitting children early on the road in crime instead of giving counseling, support, and accountability. 57% of children arrested for the first time are never arrested again, 27% get arrested one or two more times, and 16% commit four or more crimes.