Facts on Juvenile Justice

Children under the age of 18 who commit crimes enter the juvenile justice system.

The juvenile justice system is the counterpart to the adult criminal justice system. While similarities exist between the two systems, the juvenile system has different rules, different terminology and even a different focus than the adult system. The differences exist to try to prevent the stigma of being a criminal from resulting in negative behavior in children under the age of 18.

Terminology

Juvenile defendants aren't "arrested"; they're "taken into custody" for committing a "delinquent act," which would be called a "crime" in the adult system. In the juvenile justice system, defendants don't have a "trial"; instead, there's an "adjudication" in front of a judge. If the judge determines that the juvenile committed the act, he's adjudicated "delinquent" rather than being found "guilty."

Purpose

The juvenile justice system exists separately from the adult system in recognition that children have different maturity levels and degrees of responsibility than adults. The juvenile justice system's goal from its inception was to provide rehabilitation for juvenile offenders rather than to focus on punishing offenders, as typically happens in the adult criminal justice system.

History

Prior to the 1800s, any child over the age of 7 was treated like an adult if the child committed a criminal act, including going to adult prison. During the 1800s, separate detention facilities were created to house convicted children. Lawmakers and social scientists discovered that children housed with adults became more likely to commit crimes than before they entered prison. In 1899, the first separate juvenile court opened in the United States.

Changes

Although the original purpose of the juvenile justice system still permeates the system, since the 1950s and '60s, the juvenile system has become more formalized. In the past, juvenile records were sealed, but during the 1990s, 47 states made juvenile proceedings more open to the public and reduced the confidentiality of juvenile records. During the same time period, 45 states made it easier to transfer juveniles to be tried in adult court for serious offenses.

Education

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 70 percent of the juveniles in custody have educational disabilities. A bulletin from the Department of Justice released in 2000 noted that the disposition of many juvenile cases resembles the learning plan provided to students with learning and behavioral disabilities. The bulletin encourages cooperation between school and criminal justice agencies to identify at-risk children early and put them on a plan that helps address their issues before the child commits a delinquent act.

Size

In 1997, juvenile courts in the United States handled 1.7 million delinquency cases, more than four times as many as in 1960. In 1999, law enforcement estimated that 2.5 million juveniles were taken into custody, even though fewer than half the number of crimes committed by juveniles get reported to the police. On the positive side, juveniles committed 30 percent fewer violent crimes in 1998 than in 1994. Between 1998 and 2007 the number of violent crimes committed by juveniles continued the general downward trend, though these years saw a less dramatic drop. By 2008, only 288 of every 100,000 children between the ages of 10 and 17 were taken into custody for violent acts, down from about 525 per 100,000 children in 1994.

References

• Florida Department of Juvenile Justice: Glossary of Juvenile Justice Terms
• Juvenile Law History: Trying Juveniles as Adults
• U.S. Department of Justice: Special Education and the Juvenile Justice System
• PBS: Frontline: Juvenile Justice Stats
• Department of Justice: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention