Juvenile Justice
Juveniles & Law Enforcement
Legislation
- 1877: New York state legislature passed first law in U.S. that dealt specifically with police treatment of juveniles.
- April 1899: Illinois passed first act in U.S. that included a definition of juvenile delinquency.
Police & Juveniles
- Police are usually juveniles first contact with the system
- Police treatment of juveniles will influence their impression of both the juvenile and adult legal system
- Police determine whether or not youths become further involved with the juvenile justice system
- Police make on the spot adjustments also known as “street corner” justice
- First role of police in dealing with juveniles is detection, investigation, interrogation, and arrest (custody)
Police & Juveniles
- Police role is especially important because young persons’ views and attitudes toward law enforcement are shaped by their first encounter with a police officer
- Juvenile offenders are involved in a disproportionately large number of crimes
- Juveniles accounted for about 16% of violent crimes arrests and 26% of all property crimes arrests in 2005
Police & Juveniles
- Police handle many non-criminal matters referred to as status offenses including running away, curfew violations, and truancy as well as non-delinquent juvenile matters such as neglect, abuse, and missing persons reports
- Many youth view police officers on patrol not as a deterrent to delinquent behavior, but as a challenge to avoid detection and confrontation
Police & Juveniles
- The immaturity of youth, coupled with limited parental supervision and negative peer influence present special problems for police who frequently encounter juveniles with little respect for law or authority
- Juveniles also present a special problem for police because they are less cognizant of the consequences of their actions, and the effects of their delinquent behavior on their victims, their parents and families, their peers, and themselves
Police Roles & Responsibilities
- Police are the most visible officials in the criminal justice system
- Society entrusts a great deal of authority to police, but also expects a lot from them
- Police are expected to provide public order and safety; to prevent crimes from occurring, and to find and apprehend offenders when crimes occur; and to perform a variety of law enforcement functions
Police Roles & Responsibilities
- In reality, traditional police patrol does little to prevent crime. Police in most cases react to crime after it has already happened
- Police perform three roles in fulfilling their law enforcement responsibilities: law enforcement, order maintenance, and service
- The public and police have viewed the law enforcement function as the primary and most important task
Law Enforcement
- Traditional law enforcement role of police is to detect and investigate crimes, and to apprehend those responsible for committing crimes
- Police attempt to detect crimes through regular police patrols, and by responding to complaints from victims and statements from witnesses
Order Maintenance
- The order maintenance function parallels the law enforcement role when officers intervene to control disorderly behavior
- The order maintenance role is less clear than the law enforcement role, mainly because the behaviors being controlled are less clearly defined
Order Maintenance
- The officer’s role may be that of telling participants of a loud party to quiet down, or dispersing a group of juveniles who are loitering on a street corner or in front of a business establishment
- Controlling crowds during special events
Service Function
- The third role of police is that of providing services to the public
- This may include providing aid or assistance to persons in need, such as calling a tow truck for a stranded motorist; transporting abandoned or neglected children to a hospital or shelter facility; delivering a baby whose mother did not make it to the hospital on time
Service Function
- The service function often results from a combination of functions
- for example: when one officer transports abandoned children to a shelter, and another officer locates the parent(s) and initiates a child abuse investigation (a law enforcement function)
Service Function
- The service function more recently has come to include an educational component, such as when police are assigned to schools to assist in the education of children and youth on the dangers of drug use and how to avoid drug use
Police Roles & Responsibilities
- The three primary roles of police are very different on a number of dimensions: criminal vs. non-criminal, urgent vs. routine, and dangerous vs. relatively safe
- Police officers generally view the law enforcement function as the primary role, while order maintenance and service tasks have been typically regarded with mixed feelings, ranging from ambivalence to disdain
Police-Juvenile Relations
- The majority of police encounters with juveniles are in response to minor offenses that involve an order maintenance function of law enforcement
- Regardless of the seriousness of the behavior however, the nature of the police-juvenile encounter can make a significant difference on police-juvenile relations
Police-Juvenile Relations
- Juveniles are critical of police practices such as stopping and questioning them, asking them to “move on” and not loiter on street corners, parking lots, or in store fronts
- African American and Hispanic youth, and those living in urban areas, are more critical of police than White students or those living in suburban or rural areas
Police-Juvenile Relations
- Students often have ambivalent or mixed feelings about police. Research has found that a majority of students believed that police are friendly and hard working, but they also believed that officers are racially prejudiced and dishonest
- The reasons for juveniles’ negative attitudes toward police are likely the inevitable result of police officers’ fair but unpopular restrictions on young peoples’ behaviors
Police-Juvenile Relations
- The service functions of policing takes on a special emphasis in relation to juveniles. Police are expected to protect children and to prevent delinquency
- The primary reason for the inclusion of status offenses in all juvenile statutes, in fact, is for child protection and delinquency prevention
Police-Juvenile Relations
- Many cities have implemented curfew laws in an effort to get children and youth off the streets at night, reduce their opportunities to get into trouble, and therefore prevent delinquency
- Violation of curfew laws is a status offense—illegal only for those of juvenile age
- Curfew laws may have little effect on juvenile crime because there is evidence that a significant proportion of juvenile crimes occur immediately after school hours
- Between 3 p.m. and before 6 p.m.
Police Roles & Discretion
- Police are permitted to exercise a great deal of discretion in their duties. That is they have the ability to choose between different courses of action, depending on their particular assignment
- Discretionary authority among police is greater at the lowest levels of the organization
Police Roles & Discretion
- The nature of police discretion varies with the different police roles
- In law enforcement situations, police must resolve whether a crime occurred, whether there is sufficient evidence to justify stopping a suspect for questioning, taking into custody, or making an arrest
- Order maintenance situation leaves more room for police discretion, as “public order” and “disorderly conduct” are not so clearly defined.
- Police decisions and discretion in the service function are equally difficult
Juvenile Offending & Discretion
- Police have considerable discretionary power in handling juvenile matters, ranging from reprimand and release, to transporting a juvenile to detention and referral to juvenile court
- Most police contact with juveniles is non-official, and police make an arrest and take juveniles into custody in only a small percentage of cases
Juvenile Offending & Discretion
- Myers (2002) found that police took juveniles into custody in only 13% of their encounters with juveniles.
- Most of the police-juvenile encounters involved non-criminal matters
Juvenile Offending & Discretion
- Police discretion has been criticized because some believe that police abuse their broad discretionary powers, and that they base their decisions on extra-legal factors other than the offense
- Extra-legal factors such as sex, race, socioeconomic status, and individual characteristics of the offender have been shown to make a difference in police officers’ decisions of whether or not to take official action
Detection
- Response to a complaint or a crime will normally lead to an investigation by police and may lead to an arrest
- Stationhouse adjustment
- Youth taken into custody, verbal reprimand, released to parents
- Detection is often left to persons or agencies outside the police department
- When police are assigned to a specific neighborhood and know the area, its people, problems and resources, they become effective forces in detection and deterrence of delinquency.
Detection
- Community policing
- Partnership between police and community to work together to solve problems and address community concerns
- Officers assigned regular neighborhoods
- Foot and bicycle patrols
- Community watch programs
- Creates better relations between police and community
- Officers can take greater interest in youths in the area
Alternatives to Police Arrest and Custody
- Questioning, warning, and release in the community= the least severe sanction, a police officer gives a warning and reprimand on the street without taking formal actions
- Station Adjustment=police may take a youth into custody and to the station, record the alleged minor offense and actions taken, give the youth an official reprimand and release the youth to the parents
Alternatives to Police Arrest and Custody
- Referral to a Diversion Agency = police may release and refer a juvenile to a Youth Service Bureau (YSB), Big Brother/Big Sister, runaway center or mental health agency
- Considered preferable for many first-time offenders and troubled youth
Alternatives to Police Arrest and Custody
- Issuing a Citation and Referring to Juvenile Court = police officer can issue a citation and refer the youth to juvenile court. The intake probation officer accepts the referral, contacts parents, and releases the youth to the parents on the condition that they will report to court when ordered to do so. The intake officer then determines whether a formal delinquency petition should be filed
Alternatives to Police Arrest and Custody
- Taking to a Detention Center or Shelter Home = police officer can issue a citation, refer the youth to the juvenile court and take him or her to a detention center. The intake officer at the detention center then decides whether to hold the juvenile or release him or her to the parents. Juveniles are detained when they are considered dangerous, when there is a lack of parental supervision, or when there is a high probability that they will not report to court when ordered to do so
Investigation
- Extremely important that police investigate the act thoroughly so that the youth may not be falsely labeled a delinquent
- Officer has to learn as much about the alleged offense or abuse as possible in the shortest time
- Interviewing is more art than science and must be learned
- Restrictions placed on questioning subjects
- If interview is successful the police will normally have sufficient proof of a suspect’s guilt or innocence
Interrogation
- Haley v. Ohio 332 U.S. 596 (1948)
- Whether a juvenile’s statements are voluntary depends on:
- length of questioning
- child’s age
- time of day or night of questioning
- whether the child was fed and allowed to rest
- whether the child was allowed child’s rights
- “Fundamental Fairness” is best test of a child’s rights
- Concept varies by jurisdiction
Interrogation
- Fare v. Michael C., 442 U.S. 707 (1979)
- A juvenile's waiver of Miranda rights will be suspect if given without the advice of a parent or adult guardian. The determination whether a juvenile's waiver is voluntary and knowing is one to be resolved on the totality of the circumstances surrounding the interrogation. The court must determine not only that the statements were not coerced or suggested, but also that they were not the products of ignorance of rights or of adolescent fantasy, fright, or despair.
Interrogation
- Fare v. Michael C., Cont’d
- Totality of circumstances – factors considered:
- juvenile's age, experience, education, background, and intelligence, whether he has the capacity to understand the warning given to him, the nature of his Fifth Amendment rights, and the consequences of waiving them.
Interrogation
- Woods v. Clusen, 794 F. 2nd 293 (1986)
- Juveniles cannot be subject to aggressive police interrogation practices.
- Officers must observe constitutional rights of juvenile and provide for “fundamental fairness.”
Interrogation
- JDB v. North Carolina, 564 U.S. _____(2011)
- Should courts consider the age of a juvenile suspect in deciding whether he or she is in custody for Miranda purposes?
- Yes. "It is beyond dispute that children will often feel bound to submit to police questioning when an adult in the same circumstances would feel free to leave.”
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Arrest & Miranda Rights
- Ernesto Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
- Suspects must be informed of their Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights before custodial interrogation
- Custody + Interrogation = Miranda triggers
- Does not guarantee that a juvenile knows what they mean
- Must officers administer Miranda warnings to juveniles? Should they be modified for juveniles?
Miranda Rights
- You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?
Miranda Rights
- Two Miranda triggers:
- Custody and Interrogation
- Custody
- When a reasonable person does not feel free to leave
- Applies even if suspect not told they are “under arrest”.
Miranda Rights
- Interrogation
- Different from Interview
- Suspect asked questions that may incriminate him or her
Miranda Waiver
- A waiver of Miranda Rights is valid if it is;
- (1) knowing,
- (2) intelligent,
- (3) voluntary,
- (4) express or implied,
- (5) timely, and
- (6) not the product of impermissible pre-waiver tactics.
Arrest & Custody
- Reasons for taking a child into custody;
- Legal detention order
- Custody is necessary for safety of child
- Custody is necessary to ensure a child’s appearance in court
- Child has committed a felony
- Child has committed a misdemeanor in officer’s presence
- Child is a runaway
- Child is truant
Arrest & Custody
- Factors in decision to arrest;
- Demeanor of offender
- Seriousness of offense
- Group offenses
- Victim priorities
- Sex: Males are more likely to be arrested
Neglected & Abused Juveniles
- Neglected children
- Parents fail them completely
- Parents inadequately meet their basic needs
Neglected & Abused juveniles
- Abused children
- Evidence of battered child syndrome and fear of recurring abuse by parents
- Lack of appropriate adult supervision, discipline or guidance
- Sexual exploitation of children whether incestuous or for money
- Failure to provide basic needs of food, clothing and shelter