The juvenile justice system has its own philosophy, court system, and correctional institutions that differ from the adult criminal justice system. The major difference between the juvenile justice system and the adult system is its focus on rehabilitation. The juvenile justice system uses private, informal hearings, and individualized justice to act in the best interest of the delinquent youth.

The past century has witnessed a significant change in how the law deals with youth. From the inception of the juvenile justice system in 1899 to the ruling of Montgomery v. Louisiana in 2016, the pendulum of juvenile justice swings from a parens patriae model of protection of youth to juvenile waiver, fear of youth crime, and punishment, back to incorporating brain research in assessing rehabilitation and then back again with Jones v. Mississippi in 2021. The juvenile justice system was designed to treat juveniles differently from adults and take their unique needs and circumstances into consideration. Youth are malleable and can change their trajectories with the right treatment and intervention at the right time.

Learning Objectives

1. Summarize the history and purpose of the juvenile court.
2. Explain how due process has evolved through the juvenile court.
3. Briefly examine the structure of the juvenile justice system.
4. Examine the reasons supporting and criticizing the process of waiver to adult court.

Review of Key Terms

• Disposition: The name for the punishment imposed by the courts on a youth.
• Disproportionate minority contact (DMC): “When the proportion of youth of color who pass through the juvenile justice system exceeds the proportion of youth of color in the general population.”
• Ex parte Crouse: An 1838 court case that declared that The court declared that failed parents lose their rights to raise their children.
• Juvenile delinquency: When youth commit crimes/law violations.
• Judicial waiver: A waiver that allows the juvenile court judge to transfer a case to adult criminal court.
• Legislative waiver: A waiver that identifies certain offenses mandated by state law to be excluded from juvenile court jurisdiction. It is utilized to decrease or eliminate the discretionary powers of judges and prosecutors.
• Mandatory waiver: A waiver where a juvenile judge must automatically transfer to adult court juvenile offenders who meet certain criteria, such as age and current offense.
• Parens patriae: A concept that state is acting in the best interest of youth by protecting them from growing up to be ill-prepared members of society.
• Presumptive waiver: A waiver that shifts the burden of proof from the State to the defendant. It is presumptive because it is presumed that it will occur unless the youth can meet the burden of proof and provide a justifiable reason to remain in juvenile court.
• Prosecutorial waiver: A mechanism where the legislature grants a prosecutor the discretion to determine which court (juvenile or adult) to file charges against the juvenile.
• Status offenses: Offenses that are only illegal because of the age of the offender, such as drinking alcohol, running away, ungovernability, truancy, and curfew violations.
• Superpredator: A media-created idea of youth who were impulsively violent, remorseless, and without respect for human life– that led to widespread reform and more punitive approaches to juvenile crime and delinquency.
• School to prison pipeline (SPP): The increasing connection between school failure, school disciplinary policies, and student involvement in the justice system.

Self-Comprehension Check

Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion

Open Content, Shared Previously

“Conclusion” is adapted from “Conclusion” by Alison S. Burke in SOU-CCJ230 Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System by Alison S. Burke, David Carter, Brian Fedorek, Tiffany Morey, Lore Rutz-Burri, and Shanell Sanchez, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Edited for style, consistency, recency, and brevity; added DEI content. Modifications by Alison Burke and Megan Gonzalez, revisions by Roxie Supplee, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, include significant updates to the career section for recency, and overall updates for clarity.