Juvenile DelinquencyDefining Juvenile Delinquency

The social construction of J.D.

• What three historical developments led to the social construction of “juvenile delinquency”:

• The “discovery” of childhood and adolescence• The English common law doctrine of parens

patraiae• The rise of positivist criminology

The discovery of childhood and adolescence• Childhood in ancient Greece• Childhood in the Middle Ages

The discovery of childhood and adolescence• Philippe Aries, “Centuries of Childhood”

The discovery of childhood and adolescence• John Locke-children are born “neutral”

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau-people areinherently good; five stages of

development

The Parens Patriae Doctrine• Emerging in late 14th and early 15th

century in response to a series of cases heard before the English chancery courts

• Adopted in U.S. as part of Anglo-Saxon legal tradition of England; provided the fundamental legal authority for the idea of juvenile delinquency and early juvenile court

Positivist criminology• An approach or school of thought that emerged in the last half

of the 19th century• Based on positivism-the use of scientific methods to study crime

and delinquency• Scientific approach advanced by positivism assumes that crime

and delinquency are caused or determined by identifiable factors, a cause and effect relationship referred to as determinism

Positivist criminology• The use of scientific methods to uncover

the causes of crime implies the possibility that the social pathologies that cause criminal behavior can be understood and treated

• The rehabilitative ideal

Invention of the Juvenile Court

• Poor laws, Charities and Pauperism>the colonial acceptance of the notion of original sin led to the

interpretation that poverty and crime were expressions of a naturally depraved state

Invention of the Juvenile Court

• Colonial “poor laws” stipulated a community obligation to support and “relieve” the poor-though often without clear resources provided

• Separating poor children from “undeserving parents

• Laws passed

• The creation of charitable organizations

Houses of Refuge and Moral Reform

• Ex parte Crouse

Placing-Out and Orphan Trains• Placing-out involved taking groups of vagrant children west by

railroad or “orphan trains” for placement with farming families

Reform Schools• Emphasized education

and operated with traditional school schedules

• Some children grouped into “families” of forty or fewer

• Affectional discipline used in lieu of physical discipline

Child-Saving Movement• Role in creating the 1st Juvenile Court??

Creation of the Juvenile Court• The Juvenile Court Act

The Second Revolution: Transformation of Juvenile Justice Thought and Practice

• Challenges to the Traditional Juvenile Court• The Due Process Revolution in Juvenile Justice• The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention Act of 1974

Getting Tough: Initiatives for Punishment and Accountability• Transfer Provisions• Sentencing Authority• Confidentiality• Balanced and Restorative Justice