NCJ Number
103916
Date Published
1986
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Given the scope of the juvenile crime problem and the ineffectiveness of the juvenile court system in dealing with it, new models of juvenile justice must be developed.
Abstract
The first comprehensive juvenile code, the Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1889, was the result of the earlier English parens patriae theory. This parental relationship between State and child developed into a separate legal system requiring separate hearings, lesser punishment, greater discretion in disposition, and a focus on rehabilitation. Current practices are not only ineffective in dealing with the juvenile crime problem, but undermine the preventive effects of sanctions by dissociating them from punishment, failing to communicate the threat of penalty, reducing the certainty that sanctions will be applied, and obscuring the relationship between the crime and its consequences. Overcoming these limitations of the current system will require a model of juvenile justice based on the system's accountability to the public and individual responsibility of juveniles for their actions. State juvenile codes need revision in terms of this model. Such a system serves to emphasize fairness, proportionality, and uniformity. 28 notes and references.