Juvenile Processing

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Juvenile Processing

• Key Terms
• 1. Referral
• 2. Intake
• 3. Dismissal
• Informal Processing
• Petition
• 4. Detention Hearing
• 5. Waiver
• Adjudication
• 6. Predisposition Report
• 7. Disposition

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Juvenile Processing
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Juvenile Processing

• Intake
• Like police officers, juvenile court officials
  exercise a great deal of discretion, particularly
  at the intake stage
• Contradictory behaviors
• About half of all court referrals are released at
  intake using informal procedures like those used
  by police
• On the other hand, prior to adjudication, they
  detain far more juveniles than are later confined
  at dispositionoften overestimating severity of
  cases

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Juvenile Processing

• Court Dilemmas
• Nurturance
• Vs.
• Constitutional rights
• Saving truants, runaways, and neglected children
  
• Vs.
• Serving up justice
• Risking leniency, releasing kids
• Vs.
• Risking being too punitive, locking up and
  institutionalizing
• Protecting Kids
• Vs.
• Protecting Society

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Juvenile Processing

• Waiver
• All states allow juveniles accused of serious
  crimes to be tried as adults in one of three
  ways, the third being the most common route to
  adult court. Kids have due process rights in
  this process.
• Judicial Waiver--hearing before a judge who
  determines whether criminal courts should handle
  the case
• Direct File (prosecutor discretion)--prosecutor
  has the discretion to take a case directly to
  juvenile court or to criminal court
• Excluded Offenses--Certain offenses are
  automatically excluded from juvenile court
• Age--Some states define persons over a
  particular age (e.g.,15 or 16) as non-juvenile
  for criminal justice purposes with particular
  crimes

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Juvenile Processing
All states allow adult criminal prosecution and
sentencing of juveniles under some circumstances.
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Juvenile Processing
15-Year-Old Sentenced to 6 Years in Adult Prison
CAMDEN, NJ (AP)  -- A 15-year-old boy who prosecutors said was the mastermind of a failed plot to go on a shooting spree in a suburban school was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison.Edwin DeLeon and three other teens pleaded guilty earlier this year to scheming to shoot teachers and students in April. Authorities said they planned to open fire at Winslow Township High School in Camden County, where DeLeon and two of the others were students, then turn their guns on other people in the community.Despite attempts, the teens were never able to get a gun. School officials heard about the plans and the boys were arrested before anyone was hurt.
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Juvenile Processing
Kids tried and sentenced as adults are more
likely to commit future crimes than similar kids
processed as juveniles for the same crimes.
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Juvenile Processing

• Death Penalty
• Juvenile justice systems have no provisions for
  the death penalty.
• The lowest age for which a person may be put to
  death for a crime had until recently been 16
  years of age--1988 US Supreme Court Decision
• March 2005 Supreme Court ruling found that it is
  unconstitutional to put a person to death for a
  crime committed when the person was under the age
  of 18.
• This was consistent with Atkins vs. Virginia,
  June 2002, where the court ruled that execution
  of persons with mental retardation is
  unconstitutional.

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Juvenile Processing
Court Filtering (See Agnew, page
387) Intake Dismissed or Informal
Adjustment (43 of Cases) Petitioned (57)
Waived to Adult Court (0.5)
Dismissed/Informal Adjustment
(23) Adjudicated Delinquent (33) Probatio
n Intermediate Out-of-Home
Released (18) Sanctions (4) Placement
(9) (1)
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Juvenile Processing
In California
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Juvenile Processing

• Trends
• Rate of referrals for formal processing increased
  30 percent from 1988 to 1997.
• Largest increases have been for violence,
  weapons, and drugs.
• Most common cases property crimes
• 77 male
• Rate of referrals for formal processing of status
  offenses increased 78 percent from 1988 to 1997.
  This is an example of widening the net.
• Most common cases liquor laws and truancy
• 59 male

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Juvenile Processing
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Juvenile Processing

• Adjudication
• Most kids admit guilt or accept a plea bargain
  prior to adjudication.
• The 1960s and 1970s saw an increase in due
  process protections for juveniles stemming from a
  series of US Supreme Court decisions.
• Notice of charges must be given
• Right to an attorney
• Proof of facts must be beyond a reasonable
  doubt
• Right to confront accusers
• No self-incrimination
• There is not a right to trial by jury

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Juvenile Processing

• Adjudication
• Introduction of due process rights brought
  greater involvement of prosecutors into juvenile
  proceedings, making the system more adversarial
  and like the adult system
• The judge
• makes a finding of fact that the juvenile is not
  delinquent or in need of supervision
• makes a finding of fact that the juvenile is
  delinquent or in need of supervision
• dismisses the case because of insufficient or
  faulty evidence
• in some places may use informal alternatives

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Juvenile Processing

• Disposition
• Only a small fraction of all juveniles referred
  to court are eventually institutionalized
• Minority and lower-class youth are
  overrepresented
• Unclear whether court judges discriminate, most
  likely indirect discrimination at that point
• Disposition is still biased if arrest, detention,
  intake, or predisposition reports are
  discriminatory
• Prior action seems to bias judges

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Juvenile Processing
Pre-trial confinement accounts for much of the
difference.
http//ca.lwv.org/voter/jj/31minorities.html
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Juvenile ProcessingIn California
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Juvenile Processing
In 2003, public and private facilities held 32
more criminal delinquents and 32 fewer status
offenders than in 1991
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Juvenile Processing
Public facilities drive the trend for the
delinquency population private facilities drive
the trend for status offenders
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Juvenile Processing
The number of male offenders in custody increased
23 from 1991 to 2003
The number of female offenders in custody
increased 52 from 1991 to 2003but it is still
far below the male number
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Juvenile ProcessingIn California
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Juvenile Processing
Juveniles committed to residential placement per
100,000 in the population
In 2003, the national commitment rate was 219
juvenile offenders in custody for every 100,000
juveniles in the population
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Juvenile ProcessingIn California
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Juvenile Processing

• Disposition or Sentencing
• Regular Probation
• Intermediate Sanctions
• Restitution
• Scared Straight
• Intensive Supervision Programs
• Day Treatment Centers
• Boot Camps
• Out-of-Home Placements

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Juvenile Processing

• Disposition or Sentencing
• What Works in Corrections for Juveniles?
• Community-based corrections
• Most experts recommend this over incarceration
  for most juvenile offenders
• Individualized treatments are more effective at
  reducing recidivism than large training schools
• More effective at addressing root causes of
  delinquency
• Most Successful programs
• Are comprehensive and intensive
• Operate outside traditional system
• Build on youths strengths
• Use socially-grounded approach rather than
  psychological therapy
• Addresses right to treatment better

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Juvenile Processing

• Right to Treatment
• True purpose of juvenile justice system is
  rehabilitation. Practices not consistent with
  this goal violate due process guarantees
• No
• Solitary confinement
• Strip cells
• Withholding education
• Corporal punishment
• Must have
• Sufficient lighting, clothing, bedding, hygiene
  supplies
• Change of underwear and socks everyday
• Writing materials, glasses, reading material,
  ability to correspond
• Daily showers
• Access to medical and psychiatric care
• Does not grant
• Continued treatment in adulthood, broadly defined
• Individualized treatment plans

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Juvenile Processing

• What Works in Corrections for Juveniles?
• Educational, vocational, and recreational
  programs
• Pros
• Educating for meaningful skills and employing in
  meaningful work do help lower recidivism
• Cheaper than incarceration
• Acknowledges that we are in a capitalist society
  where persons must be employed to thrive
• Cons
• Kids are often below grade level and less
  trainable than expected
• Often, not enough resources are invested in
  programs

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Juvenile Processing

• Characteristics of Effective Prevention and
  Rehabilitation
• ProgramsAgnew Chapter 24
• Focus on all major causes of delinquency in your
  population
• Be intensive
• Focus on kids at highest risk for recidivism
• Begin early
• Base them in the community
• Warm but firm leadership
• New movement called Positive Youth Development
• Those things that make normal kids successful
  are also negatively associated with juvenile
  delinquency. Giving kids opportunities,
  relationships, rewarding experiences,
  responsibilities, and so forth will allow
  delinquents to turn their behavior around.

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Juvenile Processing

• Regular Probation
• No worse recidivism than with other techniques
  for most offenders
• But its a lot cheaper
• Intensive Probation
• Small caseload
• May be more effective than probation
• As effective as incarceration at 1/3 the cost
• Electronic Monitoring
• More normalized experience with supervision
• No higher recidivism than incarceration
• Inexpensive
• May not work for substance abusers, repeat
  offenders, serious felony offenders, and those
  with long sentences

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Juvenile Processing

• Electronic Monitoring
• More normalized experience with supervision
• No higher recidivism than incarceration
• Inexpensive
• May not work for substance abusers, repeat
  offenders, serious felony offenders, and those
  with long sentences
• Restitution
• (Monetary, Victim Service, Community Service)
• Often used more like retribution
• Relatively successful, lower recidivism than
  probation
• Works better with upper income, good school
  attendance, few priors, minor offenses, and lower
  dollar values
• Crimes often resulted from lack of money--how do
  you get a job now?
• Widens the net, imposes harsher penalties than
  existed before

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Juvenile Processing

• Residential Community Treatment
• Group homes, foster homes, rural programs
• Pros
• Recidivism is no worse
• Cheaper than lock up, more expensive than
  probation
• Cons
• Public fear of juveniles
• Violent offenders may pose risks

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Juvenile Processing

• Training Schools (Incarceration)
• Pros
• Can keep hardened delinquents incapacitated
• Cons
• Recidivism is often worse than other forms of
  disposition
• Expensive
• Therapeutic treatments are typically under funded
  and led by unqualified therapists
• Conditions are often bad
• Finding that getting tough doesnt work as well
  as more soft approaches may permit our society
  to reclaim its humanity

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Juvenile Processing
Recently, California found that getting soft did
not increase crime!
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Juvenile Processing
Preventing recidivism once released???