Evolution and Approaches in Juvenile Confinement

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History of Juvenile Confinement In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the United States was experiencing a state of transition as the concern for the welfare of juveniles grew. Youth convicted of crime were placed in the same facilities as adult felons and were processed in the same manner. However, the concern regarding the unfairly treatment and placing of juveniles led to the establishment of the house of refuge. This facility housed children of all ages, not just those considered delinquents, for periods ranging from less than six weeks to approximately two years. These types of juvenile institutions were based on the congregate system and typically did not differ greatly from the existing state prisons and county jails. In the mid-nineteenth
As a traditional New Zealand approach to juvenile offending, this model is a conceptual framework designed as an alternative to processing youths through the juvenile justice systems of their communities. The term ‘balanced’ refers to system-level decision making by administrators to “ensure that resources are allocated equally among efforts to ensure accountability to crime victims, to increase competency in offenders, and to enhance community safety.” Through the implementation of this model, the juvenile offender, victim, community, and juvenile justice professionals take on roles designed to help them seek out the best interest for the juvenile, as well as the
The growing number of children engaging in criminal activities led to the development of parens patriae, dramatically changed the punishment process and has acquired new approaches to the criminal sentencing of juvenile delinquents. In the United States, juvenile courts operate in a different approach from criminal courts in which there is an absence of criminal records, lack of jury trials, consideration of the juvenile’s social situation and an emphasis on rehabilitation alternatives. Moreover, with the increase in juvenile crime rate, preventing children from committing crime and the separate legal framework for juvenile delinquents will require continuing advances in federal

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