NCJ Number
100745
Date Published
1986
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This study guide, which accompanies the ''Crime File' videotape on juvenile offenders, reviews the history of America's juvenile justice system, current dissatisfaction with it, reform proposals, and the effects of treating juveniles as adults in criminal justice processing.
Abstract
The juvenile justice system has moved from an initial philosophy of informal processing and ostensible therapeutic supervision to a system that parallels adult defendant processing, except for the right to a jury trial and bail. Conservative critics of the juvenile justice system argue that dispositions should be more punitive, and liberal critics want more due process procedures for juveniles and less punitive treatment. Reforms have increased procedural protections of juveniles accused of crime, deinstitutionalized status offenders, and increased the waivering of serious juvenile offenders to adult courts. The removal of confidentiality restrictions on media accounts of juvenile proceedings has also been proposed. Impact studies of recent waiver statutes indicate some juveniles tried in adult courts receive more lenient sentences than juveniles with similar offenses receive from juvenile courts, and many convicted in adult courts are committed to juvenile institutions. 9 references.