History of Juvenile Court System
Early juvenile institutions in U.S were based on the English Bridewell institution and its emphasis was teaching trade and life skills. The ideal purpose for youths to be taught these skills was that the criminal acts were as a result of social environments thus a survival mechanism. Therefore, if youth were taught additional skills, then it was probable that they would make meaningful contributions to the community after their release.
Other types of juvenile institutions begun to sprout in U.S during the progressive era: new reformatories, separate juvenile institutions for females, and houses of refuge. All these institutions acted as the rehabilitation centers today, since various practices were carried out there. These practices include; apprenticeships in several trades, indeterminate sentencing, and religious training (Steinberg, 2008). To promote law, discipline and order, the houses were organized using a model from the military, but there was overcrowding and overworking was evident.
The nineteenth century was the dawn of the juvenile court era. In 1967, the young offenders were punished and tried as adults. The early reformers like Judge Julian Mack suggested in an article, Harvard Law review article that an offender who is juvenile should be treated “as a wise and merciful father handles his own child.” According to Judge Julian, juvenile offenders were children and indeed his view was they were not any different from children who were subject to abuse and parental abuse. Provision of a special court was that children would be protected from trauma and stigma by a public and highly formal trial.
During the first half of twentieth century the rehabilitative model of juvenile justice seemingly thrived. The Supreme Court agreed that young offenders have a right to other protections and attorney that are received by criminal defendants. The Supreme Court consent came about as a result of a constitutional challenge of delinquent proceedings being informal as presented by youth advocates. In truth though, there has been evolution in juvenile justice system in the recent past. Changes were obscured by the rhetoric paternalist that persisted even to ears that were deaf. During late twentieth century, the description of young offenders as children who in a juvenile court would respond to caring treatment seemed not to make sense compared to the reality of youth crime.
One of the many reasons that necessitated invention of juvenile justice system was a fact like, any adjunction, though non-criminal could nevertheless bar the child in adult year’s privileges and opportunities like enlistment in the armed forces (Valparasio University Law review, 1967). Additionally, a child needs more protection than an adult since the child’s immaturity makes them less able compared to an adult for them to be protected in polices’ or court’s hands.
Proponents of policies that are punitive were of the opinion that youths that were not held fully responsible for their crimes, hence they bore no responsibility of their crimes. In 1980s-1990s, crime rate increased and consequently this called for enactment of polices that were tough via various legislative strategies by politicians.
Research has it that ethnic biasness and racism influenced attitudes about punishment of youths. Consequently, the decision makers were particularly obliged to discount mitigating impact on minor youths who were immature .In addition, the integrity of any decision that is individualized is vulnerable to contamination by attitudes of ethnicity and racism. This operates among even those lacking overt prejudice.
References
Elizabeth S. Scott Laurence Steinberg (2008). The Future of Children. Juvenile justice, 18. Retrieved from http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=31&articleid=40§ionid=103
Valparasio University Law review (1967). juvenile court system in evolution, 2(1), 1-20. Retrieved from http://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2108&context=vulr
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