¶ … Parameters of the Juvenile Justice System Development

The current juvenile system in the U.S. traces its roots to more than 100 years of legal practices and traditions. Additionally, social values, and emerging trends have continued to improve the system. In ancient Greece and Rome, a thin line of distinction existed between the expectations & rights of children and adults. Children were treated in a similar way the adults were treated (Historical Overview of the Juvenile Justice). The American justice system also draws a lot from the English common law, which did not have special consideration for juvenile crimes. It was in the early 1800's that children started being seen as human beings at a unique stage of development, thus, they were no longer viewed as smaller adults who had moral and cognitive capacity of adults.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, there was an increase in urbanization and immigration alongside other social changes. During this period, adolescence was unrecognized and was not considered as an important stage in life in which one moves from childhood to adulthood. The stage provides an opportunity for emotional, social, moral and intellectual maturation. During this period of reforms, there was an attempt to decriminalize delinquency (Historical Overview of the Juvenile Justice). There was emphasis on treating the youthful offenders since they were removed from criminal justice system. The focus was no longer...

There emerged special juvenile and family courts and so juvenile matters were removed from criminal courts in the early 1900's and late 1800's.
The juvenile courts were founded in 1899 in Chicago Illinois. They recognized the juvenile court system model. The Supreme Court ruled that the juveniles were entitled to certain rights and procedures even before the court gave waiver (Kent v. United State 1966). In the In-re Winship (1970), the supreme court ruled that to obtain a conviction, the juvenile courts required a proof beyond reasonable doubt and could not rely on the less rigorous preponderance of evidence.

Juvenile Justice System's Philosophy

The court was founded to help answer the society's question '' is there any state that is bound by duty to guard, protect and take care of, and guide children who reside within its borders when such children commit acts that violate the law and engage in socially unacceptable behavior? This idea was expounded and reinforced by Platt's (1969) in which the rise of children saving movement was analyzed. It was reaffirmed by Caldwell (1961), who provided a background in the development of the juvenile court (Development and Philosophy of the Juvenile Court). It then poses the question how the system must be changed to help achieve the standards set by the United States Children's Bureau. Fox 1996 debated on the origin of this perspective and admitted that the underlying theme played a crucial role in the development of the juvenile court (The juvenile court Development & philosophy).

Consequently, we can summarize that the development of a separate juvenile court was engineered by the fact that the society needed to intervene in the lives of the offenders considered to be youthful and who would either continue along the path of criminality and delinquency (Development and Philosophy…