Rethinking Juvenile Justice

Rethinking Juvenile Justice PDF Author: Elizabeth S Scott
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674043367
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
What should we do with teenagers who commit crimes? In this book, two leading scholars in law and adolescent development argue that juvenile justice should be grounded in the best available psychological science, which shows that adolescence is a distinctive state of cognitive and emotional development. Although adolescents are not children, they are also not fully responsible adults.

Rethinking Juvenile Justice

Rethinking Juvenile Justice PDF Author: Elizabeth S Scott
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674043367
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 379

Get Book

Book Description
What should we do with teenagers who commit crimes? In this book, two leading scholars in law and adolescent development argue that juvenile justice should be grounded in the best available psychological science, which shows that adolescence is a distinctive state of cognitive and emotional development. Although adolescents are not children, they are also not fully responsible adults.

Rethinking Juvenile Justice

Rethinking Juvenile Justice PDF Author: Elizabeth S. Scott
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674030862
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
What should we do with teens who commit crimes? Two leading scholars in law and adolescent development argue that juvenile justice should be grounded in the best available psychological science, which shows that adolescence is a distinctive state of cognitive and emotional development.

A Return to Justice

A Return to Justice PDF Author: Ashley Nellis
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442227672
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Juveniles who commit crimes often find themselves in court systems that do not account for their young age, but it wasn’t always this way. The original aim of a separate juvenile justice system was to treat young offenders as the children they were, considering their unique child status and amenability for reform. Now, after years punishing young offenders as if they were adults, slowly the justice system is making changes that would allow the original vision for juvenile justice to finally materialize. In its original design, the founders focused on treating youth offenders separately from adults and with a different approach. The hallmarks of this approach appreciated the fact that youth cannot fully understand the consequences of their actions and are therefore worthy of reduced culpability. The original design for youth justice prioritized brief and confidential contact with the juvenile justice system, so as to avoid the stigma that would otherwise mar a youth’s chances for success upon release. Rehabilitation was seen as the priority, and efforts to redirect wayward youth were to be implemented when possible and appropriate. The original tenets of the juvenile justice system were slowly dismantled and replaced with a system more like the adult criminal justice system, one which takes no account of age. In recent years, the tide has turned again. The number of incarcerated youth has been cut in half nationally. In addition, juvenile justice practices are increasingly guided by scholarship in adolescent development that confirms important differences between youth and adults. And, states and localities are choosing to invest in evidence based approaches to juvenile crime prevention and intervention rather than in facilities to lock up errant youth. This book assesses the strategies and policies that have produced these important shifts in direction. Important contributing factors include the declining incidence of youth-committed crime, advances in adolescent brain science, nationwide budgetary concerns, focused advocacy with policymakers and practitioners, and successful public education campaigns that address extreme sanctions for youth such as solitary confinement and life sentences without the possibility of parole. Yet more needs to be done. The U.S. Supreme Court has recently voiced its unfaltering conclusion that children are different from adults in a series of landmark cases. The question now is how to take advantage of the opportunity for juvenile justice reform of the kind that would reorient the juvenile justice system to its original intent both in policy and practice, and would return to a system that treats children as children. Using case examples throughout, Nellis offers a compelling history and shows how we might continue on the road to reform.

Justice for Kids

Justice for Kids PDF Author: Nancy E. Dowd
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479832952
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
"An important book at an important time." —Choice "Remarkable and sobering. . . . Educators, policymakers, and advocates all should find this book as motivating as it is disturbing: for every reason it gives to despair about the current system, it also reveals a pathway toward a far less populated system of juvenile justice, one that actually helps children rather than harms them." —Daniel Losen, co-author of The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Structuring Legal Reform Children and youth become involved with the juvenile justice system at a significant rate. While some children move just as quickly out of the system and go on to live productive lives as adults, other children become enmeshed in the system, developing deeper problems and at times introduced into the adult criminal justice system. Justice for Kids is a volume edited by leading academics and activists that focuses on ways to intervene at the earliest possible point to rehabilitate and redirect—to keep kids out of the system—rather than to punish and drive kids deeper. In the Families, Law, and Society series Contributors: Shay Bilchik, Brian R. Barber, Benjamin Cairns, David Domenici, Nancy E. Dowd, Jeffrey Fagan, James Forman, Jr., Joseph C. Gagnon, Theresa Glennon, Thalia N.C. González, Leslie Joan Harris, David R. Katner, KharyLazarre-White, Thomas A. Loughran, Thomas P. Mulvey, Kenneth B. Nunn, Vanessa Patino, Alex R. Piquero, Lawanda Ravoira, Stephen M. Reba, Sarah Valentine, Randee J. Waldman, and Barbara Bennett Woodhouse Nancy Dowd is Director of the Center for Children and Families at the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law and holds the David H. Levin Chair in Family Law. She is the author of several books, most recently The Man Question: Male Subordination and Privilege (NYU Press).

Rethinking Juvenile Justice

Rethinking Juvenile Justice PDF Author: Elizabeth S. Scott
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674267168
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
What should we do with teenagers who commit crimes? Are they children whose offenses are the result of immaturity and circumstances, or are they in fact criminals? “Adult time for adult crime” has been the justice system’s mantra for the last twenty years. But locking up so many young people puts a strain on state budgets—and ironically, the evidence suggests it ultimately increases crime. In this bold book, two leading scholars in law and adolescent development offer a comprehensive and pragmatic way forward. They argue that juvenile justice should be grounded in the best available psychological science, which shows that adolescence is a distinctive state of cognitive and emotional development. Although adolescents are not children, they are also not fully responsible adults. Elizabeth Scott and Laurence Steinberg outline a new developmental model of juvenile justice that recognizes adolescents’ immaturity but also holds them accountable. Developmentally based laws and policies would make it possible for young people who have committed crimes to grow into responsible adults, rather than career criminals, and would lighten the present burden on the legal and prison systems. In the end, this model would better serve the interests of justice, and it would also be less wasteful of money and lives than the harsh and ineffective policies of the last generation.

Juvenile Justice

Juvenile Justice PDF Author: Steven M. Cox
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1506348998
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 489

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Book Description
"The text is written from a practical standpoint, which students are likely to understand and appreciate." —Lindsey Livingston Runell, J.D., Ph.D., Kutztown University Brief, focused, and up-to-date, Juvenile Justice: A Guide to Theory, Policy, and Practice, Ninth Edition, is a must-have text that takes students on a journey through the practical realities of the juvenile justice system and the most current topics in the field. Students not only learn about the history, process, and theories of the juvenile justice system, but they also gain access to the latest crime measurements and explore important issues such as community-based sanctions, treatment and rehabilitation, gangs, and international youth crime. Emphasizing evidence-based practices, the authors guide readers through the methods and problems of the system and offer realistic insights for students interested in a career in juvenile justice. Real-life examples, excellent pedagogical features, and a complete online ancillary package are provided to help instructors effectively teach the course and help students learn interactively. Give your students the SAGE edge! SAGE edge offers a robust online environment featuring an impressive array of free tools and resources for review, study, and further exploration, keeping both instructors and students on the cutting edge of teaching and learning. Learn more at edge.sagepub.com/coxjj9e.

(In)justice for Juveniles

(In)justice for Juveniles PDF Author: Ira M. Schwartz
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780669149630
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
In this highly charged, insightful investigation, Ira Schwartz takes us through a fascinating inquiry into the entire juvenile justice system in the United States. Tracing the past twenty years of attempted reforms through current trends, he measures the impact of various administrative, legal, and fiscal reform efforts and illustrtes how the contemporary juvenile justice system is still in shambles for the majority of our youth.

Reforming Juvenile Justice

Reforming Juvenile Justice PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309278937
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description
Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts.

The War on Kids

The War on Kids PDF Author: Cara H. Drinan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190605553
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
In 2003, when Terrence Graham was sixteen, he and three other teens attempted to rob a barbeque restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. Though they left with no money, and no one was seriously injured, Terrence was sentenced to die in prison for his involvement in that crime. As shocking as Terrence's sentence sounds, it is merely a symptom of contemporary American juvenile justice practices. In the United States, adolescents are routinely transferred out of juvenile court and into adult criminal court without any judicial oversight. Once in adult court, children can be sentenced without regard for their youth. Juveniles are housed in adult correctional facilities, they may be held in solitary confinement, and they experience the highest rates of sexual and physical assault among inmates. Until 2005, children convicted in America's courts were subject to the death penalty; today, they still may be sentenced to die in prison-no matter what efforts they make to rehabilitate themselves. America has waged a war on kids. In The War on Kids, Cara Drinan reveals how the United States went from being a pioneer to an international pariah in its juvenile sentencing practices. Academics and journalists have long recognized the failings of juvenile justice practices in this country and have called for change. Despite the uncertain political climate, there is hope that recent Supreme Court decisions may finally make those calls a reality. The War on Kids seizes upon this moment of judicial and political recognition that children are different in the eyes of the law. Drinan chronicles the shortcomings of juvenile justice by drawing upon social science, legal decisions, and first-hand correspondence with Terrence and others like him-individuals whose adolescent errors have cost them their lives. At the same time, The War on Kids maps out concrete steps that states can take to correct the course of American juvenile justice.

The Evolution of the Juvenile Court

The Evolution of the Juvenile Court PDF Author: Barry C. Feld
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 147987129X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
A major statement on the juvenile justice system by one of America’s leading experts The juvenile court lies at the intersection of youth policy and crime policy. Its institutional practices reflect our changing ideas about children and crime control. The Evolution of the Juvenile Court provides a sweeping overview of the American juvenile justice system’s development and change over the past century. Noted law professor and criminologist Barry C. Feld places special emphasis on changes over the last 25 years—the ascendance of get tough crime policies and the more recent Supreme Court recognition that “children are different.” Feld’s comprehensive historical analyses trace juvenile courts’ evolution though four periods—the original Progressive Era, the Due Process Revolution in the 1960s, the Get Tough Era of the 1980s and 1990s, and today’s Kids Are Different era. In each period, changes in the economy, cities, families, race and ethnicity, and politics have shaped juvenile courts’ policies and practices. Changes in juvenile courts’ ends and means—substance and procedure—reflect shifting notions of children’s culpability and competence. The Evolution of the Juvenile Court examines how conservative politicians used coded racial appeals to advocate get tough policies that equated children with adults and more recent Supreme Court decisions that draw on developmental psychology and neuroscience research to bolster its conclusions about youths’ reduced criminal responsibility and diminished competence. Feld draws on lessons from the past to envision a new, developmentally appropriate justice system for children. Ultimately, providing justice for children requires structural changes to reduce social and economic inequality—concentrated poverty in segregated urban areas—that disproportionately expose children of color to juvenile courts’ punitive policies. Historical, prescriptive, and analytical, The Evolution of the Juvenile Court evaluates the author’s past recommendations to abolish juvenile courts in light of this new evidence, and concludes that separate, but reformed, juvenile courts are necessary to protect children who commit crimes and facilitate their successful transition to adulthood.