Reforming Juvenile Justice A Developmental Approach (2013) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 15-30
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From page 15... ...
. The study came on the heels of rising violent juvenile crime and a wave of state statutes imposing tougher sanctions on juvenile offenders, including the transfer of juveniles to criminal courts at younger ages.
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From page 16... ...
The specific primary tasks of this study were to: • review the science of childhood and adolescent development and identify relevant findings for juvenile justice; • describe the history of juvenile justice reform, its stages, major legislative and judicial changes, and the driving forces behind the current rethinking of policies and programs; • provide a current context for understanding the implications of developmental behavioral and neuroscience research for juvenile justice policies and programs; 1 OJJDP's authorizing legislation ties four core requirements to state formula funding: deinstitutionalization of status offenders, removal from adult jail and lockup, sight and sound separation, and reduction of disproportionate minority contact.
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From page 17... ...
The current report builds on and complements the earlier NRC report but differs substantially from it. Rather than focusing on the causes and characteristics of juvenile crime, we focus solely on the policies and practices of the juvenile justice system and on the aspects of adolescent development that bear on its design and operation.
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From page 18... ...
The terms "delinquency" refers to acts by a juvenile that would be considered a crime if committed by an adult, as well as to actions that are illegal only because of the age of the offender. "Juvenile crime" or "criminal delinquency" refers to more serious acts that would be crimes if commit 2 Technically, "juvenile" is a legal definition referring to the jurisdictional age of each state's juvenile court or family court system and includes those youth who fall under the purview of the state's delinquency code and not the criminal code.
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From page 19... ...
, and liquor law violations.3 In some states, status delinquents are referred to the child welfare or social service systems, and in others status delinquents are dealt with in the juvenile justice system. "Adjudicated delinquent" or "delinquent" is used synonymously to describe the individual who has been found by the juvenile court to have committed a juvenile crime.
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From page 20... ...
As traditionally understood, the purpose of intervention in each case is to prevent the escalation of illegal behavior while not damaging the life chances of young people with punitive and permanently stigmatizing criminal sanctions. However, the boundaries between juvenile court dispositions and criminal sanctions have become blurred during the past two decades, allowing delinquency adjudications to establish the legal predicate for sex offender registration and to count as prior convictions for criminal sentencing purposes.
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From page 21... ...
But fairness is also important from a social science perspective and, while the research is limited, there is some indication that perceptions of fairness on the part of youth and families also are important in achieving the juvenile court's objectives. In the committee's view, looking at juvenile justice through the prism of adolescent development helps to reconcile these tensions.
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From page 22... ...
Findings also identify theoretically coherent risk and protective factors, beginning at or before birth, that provide substantive foci for interventions. The findings provide the rationale for early prevention programs that have been evaluated through randomized controlled trials and found to reduce risk for delinquency.
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From page 23... ...
Using official arrest data to measure delinquency, they identified a group they called chronic offenders, youth who had been arrested five or more times. Although constituting only 6 percent of the total cohort and 18 percent of the delinquents (those who had been arrested at least once)
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From page 24... ...
who found that a majority of the youth referred to juvenile court in Maricopa County, Arizona, did not meet criteria to be placed into the categories of chronic offender (referred four or more times) , violent offender, or serious but nonviolent offender.
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From page 25... ...
. Depending on where the sample of juvenile offenders is drawn from in the juvenile justice system, in almost all studies, however, only a minority of juvenile offenders do become adult criminals.
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From page 26... ...
For that reason, the committee has not included a separate chapter singling out this small subgroup of serious delinquents. Instead, we consider the entire population of juvenile offenders, noting when appropriate specific differences that arise for serious, violent, or chronic offenders.
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From page 27... ...
Appendix B provides detailed information on the history and characteristics of the widely replicated Missouri model of juvenile justice and an assessment of its effectiveness. Appendix C examines OJJDP's role in mentoring, a program heavily supported by Congress, and reviews research bearing on its effectiveness as a prevention program.
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From page 28... ...
Each strategy for sampling and for measurement has strengths and weaknesses. With respect to sampling, community samples are more representative of the total adolescent population and allow for important comparisons between youth who have committed delinquent acts and those who have not.*
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From page 29... ...
In contrast, in studies based on official measures, such as arrest or adjudication, delinquent behavior, especially repeated delinquent behavior, is committed only by a distinct minority of the adolescent population. There are also differences in the basic correlates of delinquency, for example, by race/ethnicity, social class, and gender.
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