dissusion board questions
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1WhatisDelinquencyandHowDoesitDifferFromAdultCrime.pptxWhat is Delinquency and How Does it Differ From Adult Crime?
JD: Causes and Control (1)
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Delinquency – violation of criminal law by minors
Age varies with state – most set it at 18
GA, IL, LA, MA, MI, MO, NH, SC, TX and VT – set it at 17
CT, NY, NC - set it at 16
Delinquency is committed by juveniles
Crime is committed by adults
We view juvenile delinquents differently than adult criminals
These views led us to treat them differently
Invention of Juvenile Delinquency
Overview
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The concept of delinquency is relatively new
Early on – no separate system – all criminal violations treated the same
JJS is just over 100 years old
Juveniles were also subject to the DP
Some allowances were made for juveniles – their sentences were not always carried out
“delinquency” – new concept
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Immaturity – need guidance and help
Did not know what they were doing was wrong
Could not appreciate the harm their actions might cause
Could not control themselves
Easily led astray by others
No precise age at which we become mature
View adults as responsible for his/her behavior and deserving of punishment
Some older serious juvenile offenders may be more aware of what they are doing – treated as adults
View Delinquents Differently
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Treat Juveniles Differently
Special set of laws
Special courts
Special correctional programs
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Scenario 1:
6 yo FL girl repeatedly hit her 7 yo friend with a piece of wood while an older boy held the 7yo’s arms behind her back
7 yo’s nose was damaged and her dress soaked with blood by the time she arrived home to her mother
Parents called police – there was talk of trying as an adult
How would you address this?
Maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine
Juvenile Offender Scenarios
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Scenario 2:
6 yo CA boy savagely beat a 1 month old sleeping baby
Kicked, punched, beat with stick, possibly caused permanent brain damage
Said to have sought revenge against the family of the baby for harassing him
How would you address this?
21% of public supports rehabilitation as the primary goal for adult corrections
50% support it as the primary goal for juveniles
criminal law definitions:
Reflects activities that society has defined as unacceptable and has taken steps to sanction
these activities are illegal regardless of the age of the offender
Only distinction – will be labeled delinquent as opposed to criminal
Age varies from state to state (MA = 17)
Can be waived to adult court
status offense definitions
illegal only bc of age
PINS/CHINS
Defining Delinquency
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Apply only to people with the status of “juvenile”
Running away from home
Truancy
Incorrigibility (refusing to obey parents)
Drinking under age
Violating curfew
Engaging in certain consensual sexual activities
Intervene when juveniles give indications they might be heading down the “wrong path”
These laws are directly tied to the view of juveniles as immature and in need of guidance or direction
Special Laws – Status Offenses
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Special Laws
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Taken seriously until the late 60’s/ early 70’s
Often formally processed by the court
Adjudicated delinquent
Sometimes subject to severe punishment
½ the juveniles in correctional facilities were there for status offenses
Esp true with girls – supervised more closely, esp with regard to sexual behavior
Status Laws – 60’s/70’s
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Begin to undergo criticism in 60’s and 70’s
Laws were vague
What is incorrigibility?
Often subjected those who had not committed any crimes to severe penalties
Often institutionalized where exposed to serious offenders and at times assaulted
physically and sexually
Evidence that poor, minority and females more likely to be punished for status offenses
Criticism
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Develop diversions – divert status offenders from formal court process
Dealt with informally or referred to special programs
CHINS (PINS or MINS)
Reduce the stigma of the delinquent label
1974 fed gov’t passed a law that strongly encouraged states to stop placing status offenders in institutions
Largely effective
Some decriminalized all together – social services
Response to Criticism
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In almost all states
Several hundred thousand status offenders are arrested each year
Tens of thousands are formally processed by the juvenile court
Still Illegal
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Special courts
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Reflects our different views of juveniles
Goals: guide and help, NOT punish
Act in “best interests of juvenile”
“wise and merciful father handles his own child….not so much to punish as to reform, not to degrade but to uplift, not to crush but to develop (p8)”
Juvenile Court
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Focuses more on offender than on offense
Seeks to help
Therefore focuses on entire juvenile
Personal, family, school, peer problems
Court is supposed to address these problems and not simply respond to the offense
More formal and less adversarial
Initially provided few due process rights
Not needed if helping child
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Informality has changed since the 60’s
Since the court often fails to help and DOES punish --- deserve some due process rights
Representation by attorney
Confront and cross witnesses
Lack jury trial rights
Frequently waive their rights – often encouraged by court
Less than half the juveniles are represented by an attorney
Court, Juveniles and Due Process
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Court and Terminology
Criminal Court (Adults)
Arrest
Complaint against
Charges a defendant with a crime
Criminal trial
Sentencing hearing
guilty
Juvenile Court
Taken into custody
Petition in the interest of
Charges with a delinquent act
Adjudicatory hearing
Dispositional hearing
Adjudicated a delinquent/ CHINS
Very important - you WILL be asked this on the exam
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Closed to public and media
Often able to seal their records if they stay out of trouble for a stated period of time
These policies are beginning to change
Can not be sentenced to death if under 18
Usually can not confine past 21st birthday
Other Differences
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Special correctional programs
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Protect them from contact with adults
More concerned with rehabilitation than adult programs
Not called prisons
youth development centers
training schools (in MA DYS Facilities)
Special Correctional Programs
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Exception to the rule
Dramatic increase in serious juvenile violence in late 80’s and early 90’s
Massive publicity surrounding this violence
Many began to feel that this was not the work of “immature” juveniles in need of help BUT rather younger criminals
Juvenile court was not equipped to deal with these offenders
Has become easier to try these juveniles as adults
Older Serious Juveniles
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Invention of delinquency
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Haven’t always treated juveniles different than adults
Late 1800s – mandatory school attendance
1899 First juvenile court
1945 All states have juvenile courts
What caused these changes?
Changing conception of childhood
Major social changes
Invention of Delinquency
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To understand development of JJS – must understand concept of childhood
Up until age 5/6/7 – children held same status as any other property
Changing Concept of Childhood
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why??
Low life expectancy – infant mortality rate exceeded 50%
Failure to develop personal caring attitude towards young was a defense mechanism
Families lived day to day trying to provide for themselves – each additional child was a burden
Led to practices like: infanticide (females – less productive, dowries), abandonment, wet nurses, involuntary servitude and apprenticeship
Children older than 7 were treated as adults
Lived and slept in rooms with adults
Drank alcohol
Engaged in sexual behavior
Began work early
Lack of distinct expectations for youths – no period of schooling or education separated kids from adults
Subject to severe punishment if misbehaved – much would be considered abusive today
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Broke the law – treated as adults
Father was responsible for controlling the child
his punishment had no bounds
Tried in same courts, same punishments
DP and confinement
Very young children often exempt and older children might receive lighter punishment
Begin to see children as different from adults
Decline in death rate
2/3 died prior to age 20, parents did not form attachments
Decline in death rate – can form bonds
Begin to be seen as needing special care and protection
Extension of education
Due to increase in industry, trade and subsequent spread of printed materials
Formal education highlighted differences bt immaturity and dependence of children
Widened gap bt what adults and children knew
Mid 1500’s and 1600’s
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As we begin to view differently, more inclined to treat them differently
1555 – Bridewell Institution (London)
to handle youthful beggars
poor seen as threat to society
Institutions to train the poor – youths considered more trainable
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1800’s and early 1900’s
Society become largely urban
1790, 5.1% of population lived in urban areas
Only a few cities had more than 2,500 ppl
1920, over 50% of population in urban areas
Major Social Changes
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Urban areas are populated with poor and immigrants
1920, half the residents of major urban areas were immigrants or their children
Not always able to find work
With this (urbanization) comes problems like crime
Children spend time on streets, stealing and committing crimes to survive
Corrupted by their environment
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1825 – first house of refuge in NY
Remove children from criminogenic influences of workhouses and jails
Indeterminate sentence – allow the institution to work with each person on an individual basis
Education, skills training, hard work, apprenticeship
religious training and parental discipline –the best methods of training lay in the realm of family and church
Goal – produce productive member of society
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Impact – questionable – military bx was the norm, activities were far removed from the real world
Apprenticeship – no more than simple slave labor
New prisons
Juvenile court – generally held as a humanitarian development
JJS allowed the powerful class of society to mold a disciplined and complacent work force
Means of preserving the existing class system
Driving force behind the growth of the JJS – middle and upper class
System grew when lower class was swelling with new immigrants
Est new laws that address the activity of lower class
Most residential institutions in the early 1880s refused to admit AA – subject to incarceration in adult facilities until special institutions could be developed
Proper training for women consisted of the expectation to stay home and raise a family
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Genuinely concerned with welfare of these children
OR
Upper class disturbed by large concentration of poor people (esp immigrants) in the city
Were They Child Savers?
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