Parens Patriae: The Juvenile Court System's Role and Impact

The Juvenile Court System was established in 1899. The goal of the system was to act as parens patriae (the State as parent), which was the rationale for the right of the State to intervene in the lives of children in a manner different from the way it intervenes in the lives of adults. As stated by the U.S. Department of Justice, “The doctrine was interpreted to mean that, because children were not of full legal capacity, the State had the inherent power and responsibility to provide protection for children whose natural parents were not providing appropriate care or supervision,” (1999). A key element of the juvenile justice system is to focus on the welfare of the child and to rehabilitate them so that they do not make similar mistakes as

Feld in Abolish the Juvenile Court (1999), there are inherent flaws in the juvenile justice system because it cannot act as a social welfare system and also provide criminal social control. Juvenile courts punish delinquents in the name of treatment but deny them protections available to criminals (Feld, 1999). Youths whom judges remove from their homes and incarcerate in intuitions for long periods of time receive substantially fewer procedural safeguards than do convicted adults. Juvenile courts provide inadequate social welfare and lack the necessary resources needed to treat these

Science supports the notation that the frontal lobe is not fully developed until an individual is in their late 20’s. One of the biggest concerns with juveniles is their impulsivity and lack of judgment, both of which are controlled by the prefrontal cortex. It is alarming to me to hold a juvenile fully accountable for their actions when unlike adults; part of their brain has not been fully developed. Biologically, they are not yet mature and their executive system is not full functioning. In addition to the profound physical changes of the brain, Deborah Yurgelun-Todd of Harvard University states that adolescents also undergo dramatic hormonal and emotional changes. For example, testosterone being one of the hormones that has the most dramatic effect on the body is closely associated with aggression and increases tenfold in adolescent boys (2004). Juveniles suffer from significant neurological deficits that may increase delinquency; therefore holding them to the same standards as adults is