NCJ Number
116459
Date Published
1984
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines recent trends in juvenile justice based on three national reports: Institute of Judicial Administration and American Bar Association 'Juvenile Justice Standards Project' (1977); National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals 'Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Report' (1976); and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 'Standards for the Administration of Juvenile Justice' (1980).
Abstract
The chapter considers changes recommended by these reports in the areas of police and intake operations, adjudication, dispositions, and corrections. Overall, the chapter concludes that changes in juvenile justice are all moving toward less discretion to intervene in the lives of troubled juveniles and more formality and punishment in the processing of juveniles charged with serious offenses. The changing roles of the various actors in the juvenile justice system are addressed, including the roles of juveniles themselves, parents, attorneys, judges, correctional officials, and the community. The chapter reasons that juveniles are being forced into more active roles in defending themselves against charges, and attorneys and parents are assisting in this defense. The final section of the chapter examines the emerging juvenile justice system, in which the benevolence and control of the past are being supplanted by formal criminal procedures and punitive dispositions. Also examined is the role of the social sciences in developing delinquency theories to explain how and why juveniles misbehave. The current juvenile justice system, in which juveniles are assessed in terms of culpability and justice, demands even more from the social sciences. (Author summary modified)