Juvenile Justice

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Juvenile Justice

• Chapter 8
• The Role of Law Enforcement

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Students Objectives

• What factors affect how police resolve juvenile
  justice problems
• What is street justice?
• Do police have discretionary powers when dealing
  with juveniles?
• What action do police take when dealing with
  juveniles
• Five objectives of juvenile law enforcement

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Student Objectives Cont.

• The fundamental nature of the juvenile justice
  system
• What window of opportunity exists for juvenile
  who are in detention
• The primary responsibility of officers working
  child abuse and child neglect cases
• What the majority of police dispositions involve
• What pre-delinquent indicator often goes
  unnoticed?

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Obj Cont

• The most visible indicators of a future victim or
  offender
• How prevention methods have changed over the
  years and why
• What the focus of the Top program is? Project
  Dare?
• Will discuss the important professionals in a
  delinquency prevention program

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Obj Cont

• What greatly influences youth attitudes towards
  law and law enforcement
• What paradigm shift affects how law enforcement
  deals with youths

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Figure 8.2 Funnel Fallacy Process and Drop Out
Rates of the Juvenile Justice System
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Introduction

• The most important minority group in our society
  today is our young
• The young represent all segments of our society
• The future of our nation depends on the values
  they are forming and the fact they will be the
  future decision makers of our society

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Intro Cont

• Juvenile justice covers 3 basic areas
• Youths who are victims of neglect and abuse
• Youths who commit minor status offenses
• Youth who commit serious crimes
• Police must protect both victims and offenders
  and deal fairly with them
• What is best for the youth must be balanced with
  what is best for society

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Structure of the JJ System

• The JJ system is distinct from the adult system
• It has retained 3 basic components from the adult
  system
• Police Courts Corrections
• The intention is to let kids fall through the
  cracks and possibly get a 2nd chance
• Funnel effects- At each point in the system
  fewer youths pass through
• Police only arrest 100 out of every 1000 or 10
  of the youth they come into contact with

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Structure of the JJ System Cont

• System works well for most juveniles
• Its weakness is handling the serious juvenile
  offender
• Very few provisions

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Government Agencies Involved Directly and
Indirectly with Juveniles

• Office of Justice Programs- Co-ordinates
  activities of other offices
• Bureau of Justice Statistics
• National Institute of Justice
• Bureau of Justice Assistance
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
  Prevention
• Office for Victims Assistance

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Police Dispositions

• Police juvenile dispositions are made with the
  childs health, safety, and welfare in mind
• The deal with a wide range of youths who need
  protection from abuse and neglect to those who
  have committed status offenses to those who have
  committed serious violent crimes
• Police have very limited alternatives and limited
  discretion with youths who have committed violent
  crimes

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Police Dispositions Cont..

• Factors to determine if police will arrest
• Character
• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Prior Record
• Family Situation
• Attitude

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How Police Dispose of Cases
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Police Discretion

• 80 to 90 of the youth commit offenses for which
  they could be arrested
• Only 3 of them are caught and arrested
• Police have a wide range of discretionary power
  when they do catch juveniles
• Release to parents
• Release to juvenile authorities
• Counseling referrals
• Prosecute within the JJ court system

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Objectives in Handling Juveniles

• Protect the juvenile
• To Investigate
• Determine the cause of victimization or
  delinquency
• Efforts are made to prevent further delinquency
• Proper disposition of the case

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Taken Into Custody

• Youths are taken into custody either from
  complaint or the officer observes questionable
  behavior
• The custody is not considered an arrest but an
  attempt to discover the problem and rehabilitate
• At no point may the rights of the juvenile be
  infringed upon
• A crime must be proven beyond a reasonable
  doubt
• Efforts should then be directed towards the cause
  rather than punishment

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Detention

• Detention is the period in which a youth is taken
  into custody by police and probation prior to a
  petition being filed
• The law clearly states that juvenile status and
  non-offenders shall not be confined in any
  institution in which they have regular contact
  with adults
• Criteria for detaining
• For the juveniles protection
• No parental care available
• To guarantee a juveniles appearance in court
• The seriousness of the offense and prior record

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Release vs. Detention

• Youths are taken into custody to be release to
  parents and guardians
• Detainment follows if parents or guardian cannot
  be found
• Some courts require mandatory referrals for all
  crimes of violence
• All juveniles on parole or probation will be
  referred

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• An intake officer usually with juvenile justice
  decides if a case should move ahead for court
  processing
• A petition (charge) is filed
• Intake officer determines if youth will be
  detained until hearing
• This decision is reviewed by a judge

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Prosecution

• The prosecutor receives the recommendation for a
  petition and can exercise 3 options
• Dismiss the case
• File the petition
• Determine that the case is so serious that it
  should be tried in adult court
• The prosecutor also looks at the age and
  experience of the officer making the disposition

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Prosecution Cont..

• Children that are involved in juvenile justice
  proceedings may be fingerprinted and photographed
  under specific conditions
• Officers can take fingerprints and photos of
  juvenile 14 or older who are involved in the
  crime of murder, non-negligent manslaughter,
  forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault,
  burglary, housebreaking, purse snatching, auto
  theft
• The files have to be kept separate from adult
  files
• They cannot be sent to a central depository

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Prosecution Cont

• If latent prints are found at a crime scene and
  law enforcement have a suspect who is a juvenile,
  they can be fingerprinted regardless of age or
  offense
• If the prints turn out to be negative during a
  comparison, the fingerprint card must be
  immediately destroyed

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Overrepresentation Issues

• There are major concerns with a disproportionate
  number of minority youths in the system.
• In other words, minority youth do not commit more
  crimes than other youth, they merely get treated
  differently and more harshly at various points in
  the system
• However it is witless to assume that millions of
  poor, jobless young people, who are not part of
  the work-world culture are going to stay off the
  streets and join knitting clubs

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Neglected and Abused Children

• The primary responsibility of officers assigned
  to a neglect or abuse case is the immediate
  protection of the child
• Low enforcement must act frequently according to
  most department policies within 3 days
• If an investigation finds the situation to be
  life-threatening the police may temporarily
  remove the child
• Arrangements must them be made with the welfare
  department or the juvenile court

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Neglect Abused Cont..

• Police must balance the rights of the parents
  against those of the children
• Certain service providers are required by law to
  report suspected abuse
• Child care providers
• Clergy
• Educators
• Hospital Administrators
• Physicians
• Social Service workers

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Youths who are Sexually Abused

• It is recommended that police departments have
  specialists in dealing with children who are
  sexually abused
• Police academies nor law schools fail to teach
  the understanding and psychological needs of a
  child victim of incest or other sex crime
• It is probable that a sexually abused child will
  become an abuser or engage in violent crimes
• Failure to act on these cases will produce grim
  consequences

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Missing Children

• Most missing children run a high risk of getting
  involved with pedophiles
• National Center for Missing and Exploited
  Children provides age progression programs

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Status Offenders

• The majority of case involve status offenses
• Approximately 90 according to the UCC
• Most status offenders are from middle
  socioeconomic families (runaways, incorrigibles
  and truants)
• In most case the parents are found absorbed in
  their own lives and have little time for the
  children
• These parents tend to pursue a policy of
  appeasement rather than maintaining family
  discipline

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Status Offenses Cont..

• Curfew violations and Loitering
• Runaways
• Truants
• Underage Drinking
• Serious or Habitual Offenders

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Dealing with Gangs and Gang Members

• Despite the dedication of thousands of police
  officers, the problem of gangs in the U.S. shows
  no signs of slowing down
• Gang activity is a chief concern but gangs can
  congregate and recruit without breaking the law
• Only a small number of gang related crimes are
  solved by arrest
• The general public perceives that law enforcement
  are doing nothing about gangs

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Gangs Cont

• Many large departments have formed specialized
  gang Task Force special units
• Five strategies OJJDP recommends
• Suppression- prevention, arrest, and
  imprisonment, supervision and surveillance
• Social Intervention- Includes Crises
  Intervention, treatment for youths and their
  families, outreach, and referral to social
  services

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Gangs Cont..

• Social Opportunities- Provide basic or remedial
  education, training, work incentives, and jobs
• Community Mobilization- Improved communications
  and joint policy and program development
• Organizational Development and Change-Includes
  special police units, prosecution, probation and
  case management

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Prevention Strategies

• It is better to prevent youths from becoming
  victims or victimizers in the first place
• How do we attempt to do this
• Educational Programs
• Recreation programs
• Crime prevention programs
• Diversion Programs

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Coordination Efforts and Community Policing

• Traditionally law enforcement have been separate
  from the community and has only been reactive to
  crime by responding to incidents
• The emphasis has now shifted to viewing the
  entire juvenile justice system including law
  enforcement as part of the community and a
  collective effort by everyone to deal with our
  nations youth
• This paradign shift to community policing
  directly affects law enforcement as well as
  courts and corrections

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Responding to a Changing Society

• Policing today is at a critical point.
• People of different races, cultures, and
  languages are coming into closer contact with
  each other
• Enormous demands are being placed on
  understanding and tolerance
• There are widening class divisions, more broken
  families, and homeless
• There is a growing anger on part of the
  dis-advantaged and a rise in violence

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Responding to a Changing Society

• To identify the problems police must be able to
  associate with the youths of the community
• Especially the ones who are always on the brink
  of crime

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The End