Overview of Juvenile Courts: Purpose and Classification

In chapter 10 the book talks about Juvenile courts. Juvenile court is a court of law that has jurisdiction over minors. The purpose for juvenile courts is to offer juveniles justice and treatment. In most states, juvenile court purpose clauses fall into one or more of five categories (Synder and Sickmund 2006, 98). The five categories are balance and restorative justice clauses, standard juvenile court act clause, legislative guide clause, clauses that emphasize punishment and traditional child welfare. In all states the courts puts children under three classification. The first one is those who are neglected or abused. The second is status offenders. The third is those who broke the law. There has been several issues on deciding if a child can tried in an adult court. What’s the appropriate age? The nature of the crime depends on if the child will be tried in adult court or not.

Mostly juvenile courts takes place in the

county where the juvenile lives. In juvenile court there is a separate hearings, informal procedure, regular probation service, separate detention center, special court and probation records and examinations on mental/physical aspects. The judge is the main authority, there is no jury. A hearing officer may help the judge. Usually juveniles don’t have a representation unless the case is serious. Probation officers supervise juveniles.
In the juvenile court process a petition has to be filed, a detention hearing, a adjudication hearing and a disposition hearing. In 2008 juvenile courts processed more than 1.6 million delinquency cases, an increase from the 1.15 million cases processed in 1985 but a decrease from a peak of 1.88 million cases processed in 1997 (Puzzanchera and Kang, 2011). 2008 juvenile courts processed more than 1.6 million delinquency cases, an increase from the 1.15 million cases processed in 1985 but a decrease from a peak of 1.88 million cases processed in 1997 (Puzzanchera and Kang, 2011).
If charges are filed against the juvenile then a petition is filed.

The district attorney writes the name, age and address of the minor. The district attorney also writes what law they broke and if it’s a felony or misdemeanor. The detention hearing is held after the petition is signed. The detention hearing is when the court decides if the minor should be detained. The adjudication hearing is when the kid is question about the crime he committed. Almost the same as the adult court where lawyers can cross examine. The dispositional hearing is where the judge decides the best way to deal with the juvenile. Griffin and Torbet suggested the following disposition recommendations checklist. What risks does the juvenile pose to the community? What is the juvenile attitude toward the victim and the offense? What factors and circumstances contributed to the juvenile offending? What skills does the juvenile need to acquire? What are the juveniles (and the juveniles family’s) strengths resources and receptiveness to intervention (2002,

68).
Depending on how serious the crime is, juveniles can be transfer to criminal court despite their age. This is call certification, a child being tried as an adult. Transfer was intended to be reserved for those relatively few cases that involved serious, violent offenders who posed a substantial threat to public safety or chronic offenders who seemed impervious to rehabilitation, having failed to reform after previous treatment attempts (Bishop and Frazier 2000; Steinberg and Cauffman 200). Statistics show that transferring kids to adult courts don’t have a deterrent effect. Also statistic has shown there is increase rate of juvenile recidivism.