Juvenile Intake Process

The Intake

Jenifer R. Roberts

Brown Mackie College

The Intake

This paper will inform you on the intake process of a juvenile. There are three main parts.

The juvenile justice intake process, additional juvenile justice preadjudication processes, and

legal issues (Elrod & Ryder,2011). There is information on what all juveniles should expect

when going through the juvenile intake process, and the discretion of the intake process.

First it all begins with an arrest of a juvenile. Just because a juvenile gets arrested does not

mean that they are guilty. When arrested the juvenile will be searched, turn in all jewelry, hair

and/or head bands, wait on paperwork to be filed. Then they

go to the shower room and a strip

search is conducted. They shower while the guard watches them, then they get jail clothes, and

they walk back to the unit. Whenever the juvenile court is in session (day depends on state) they

go to court and it is up to the magistrate whether the juvenile goes home or stays in dentition

until the date of the hearing.

The intake unit is the one’s who will be dealing with the juvenile

after the arrest. There job is to figure a suitable way of dealing with the juveniles that they

handle. There is a wide range of things that a juvenile can get into trouble over. The intake

unit’s job is to figure out with crimes “warrants a formal court action” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011).

The intake screening a system to see whether a juvenile should go through the “juvenile

system” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011) or if the intake officer should take another route. They usually

look at their past history of school, family, court, job, juveniles attitude, and their age. The

screening process may also include the juveniles race, gender, and wealth.

The intake process is usually “performed by probation officers” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011).

The attorney’s office of the prosecutor is usually the one’s who decide whether charges should

be made. They make sure there is enough legal cause to pursue a criminal charge. If the

prosecutor thinks the case should go forward then it goes to the intake officer and they make

a

decision on it should go. Then they look at the criminal record of the juvenile, the age of the

juvenile, and the degree of the crime the juvenile committed.

Serious crimes have to go to court which is called petition. A petition is where “a request for

formal court action” (Elrod & Ryder,2011). And it has the charges of the juvenile that they

present it durning the trial phase. The officer may dismiss the charges and explain how this is

The Intake

not the road the juvenile should travel down. There are also programs the juvenile can attend.

There is also a time in which the intake officer speaks with the charged juvenile and their parents

to get all the information that they can to make their decision.

Since the prosecutor is getting involved more they are sending juveniles to court more. In

some states the intake officers gives all cases to the prosecutor to look at. States are getting a

harder on juveniles in hopes it will detour youths from committing crimes. “Punitive model of

juvenile justice” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011) is to detour juvenile crimes and not be so easy on

juveniles. This lets juveniles have the “same criteria” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011) as adults.

Discretion in the intake screening. It does not matter who looks at the case they always use

discretion. There factors in determining whether intake can handle the case. These are the

factors: Is there enough evidence to bring the case to court, what their performance is in school,

at home, and in and around the community, is this an issue that can be resolved, should they

remove the juvenile from the home or not, the “attitude” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011) of the juvenile,

the juveniles parents, and the person that the juvenile committed the crime against, the age of the

juvenile, school attendance, what the plaintiff wants to do with the juvenile, and if the juvenile

is

safe and if the public is safe. These factors determine how the case should and will be handled.

Sometimes the case does not go to court, but the intake officer still gives a punishment of

some kind. The intake officer and/or prosecutor looks at all aspects of the crime when

determining what should happen to the juvenile. If there is a serious of enough case then they

petition the court, and will be filed with the court, and the petition will include the formal

charges in it. The person who made the complaint will have to show up in court. The juvenile

can make a plea in retrial hearing if they wish. A plea ( in this text) is “the juveniles formal

response to criminal charges” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011).

If the intake officer feels it is necessary the will detain the juvenile, and there will be a

“detention hearing” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011). The hearing will have a judge, “referees”, and the

“hearing officers” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011). The hearing is being held in front of officer that is

detaining the juvenile or trying to get the juvenile arrested. The juvenile can have their parents at

the hearing, have their rights read, they can make a plea if they want to, trial date, and get a

bond.

The juvenile can bootstrapping. This is where get out of detention if they follow certain rules,

such as going to school everyday on time, make sure they are at home at a certain time, and obey

their parents and authorities. If they do not they will return to detention. If the court feels

necessary then they will not the juvenile out of detention because they might commit another

crime. This is “preventive detention” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011).

The juvenile will also have a preliminary hearing and an arraignment. These are important time

in the process. The juvenile can make a plea bargain. This is an agreement with the the youth

and the attorney for the state. Juveniles have due process for them and their parents. Due

process is “constitutional right to be treated fair by the law” (Elrod & Ryder, 2011). The

juvenile and attorney can bargain for a sentence, of course, the juvenile wants a small sentence

and if the crime is bad enough the attorney will push for a more lengthily one.

In this paper you was informed on a few things. The juvenile justice intake process,

additional juvenile justice preadjudication process, and legal issues. Also discussed was what

happened if they crime was not serious. What a plea bargain is. The process of a juvenile being

detained and what would make the courts detain a juvenile.

Reference

Elrod, P. & Ryder, R. S. (2011) Juvenile Justice: a social, historical, and legal perspective (3rd

Ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.