NCJ Number
86321
Date Published
1981
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article outlines the history of the juvenile justice system in America and discusses the reforms proposed in the Juvenile Justice Standards Project.
Abstract
The Juvenile Justice Standards Project of the American Bar Association and the Institute of Judicial Administration convened in the midst of growing disenchantment with the 'reform' and 'training' schools that had been used to deal with 'problem' youth. After nearly a decade of research and deliberation, the project members concluded that the juvenile court must abandon the 'moralistic' model that had guided it since the turn of the century. This was based in the belief that the juvenile court is not competent to make the kinds of judgments and undertake the extensive interventions that had been exercised in the past. All agreed that the juvenile courts should be tightly regulated by the rule of law, so that acts that would be crimes if committed by adults will be charged, proved, and punished in a similar manner. The term 'delinquency,' with its attendant stigmatization and possibility of incarceration is reserved exclusively in the Standards for juveniles who have commited crimes as defined in criminal law applicable to adults. A policy of minimum intervention in cases where crimes are not involved is evidenced in the treatment of children victimized by parental abuse and neglect. Separation of the child from the home is advocated only in cases where there is a clear physical danger to the child. In the case of juvenile crime, the standards do not require minimum sentences, but where the judge deems a heavy determinate sentence necessary, no parole board should be permitted to release the offender prematurely. The standards permit incarceration only for conduct forbidden by the adult criminal law.