Juvenile Delinquency Is the Legal

Juvenile delinquency is the legal expression used to describe the behavior of children and adolescents that if they were an adult would be considered criminal. Throughout the United States, the definition of a juvenile along with the age limits is different. There has been seen a maximum age of 14 years in some states to 21 in others. The group that is 16- to 20-years old, is thought to be adults in many places, and has one of the highest incidences of serious crime. A large percentage of adult criminals have a background of early delinquency. Theft is the most common offense that is committed by children. Further serious property crimes and rape are most often committed later on. The reasons for this behavior, like those of crime in general, are thought to be a combination of psychological, social, and economic factors. Clinical examinations have exposed emotional disturbances, frequently arising from dysfunctional family situations. Other studies have recommended that there are persisting patterns of delinquency in poverty-level neighborhoods regardless of changing occupants. This phenemon known as culture of poverty has come into poor favor among many social scientists. The gang, which is a source of a lot of delinquency, has been a common course for adolescents, particularly in the inner cities. It wasn't until the development, of the juvenile court in 1899, that judgment of youthful offenders efficiently became separated from adults (Juvenile Delinquency, 2010).

The system generally stresses informal procedures and correction rather than focusing on punishment. In some states, psychiatric clinics are included, and there has been an inclination to handle cases in public welfare agencies outside the court. Juvenile correctional institutions have been set apart from regular prisons since the beginning of the 1800's. Even though most are insufficient, some have managed to develop concentrated rehabilitation programs that provide vocational training and psychiatric treatment. Other agencies that have worked together in the correction of delinquent children include the parole system, child guidance clinics, foster homes and public juvenile protective agencies. Particularly important for deterrence is action by community groups to provide essential facilities for the well-being of children. On a global level, the rate of delinquency is highest in the more economically and technologically superior countries (Juvenile Delinquency, 2010).

Dealing with juvenile offenders often poses a unique problem for society and an entire system has been established to address juvenile issues. Until the mid-1800's there was no separate legal status for young offenders. Society could sanction youths in the same way as adults. There was not a separate system based on the age of the offender. Youths could be sentenced to death for various criminal actions. Changes were seen in the early 1800's. The beginnings of the juvenile justice system can be seen in policy changes that were directed at dealing with the phenomenon of poverty (Lab, Williams, Holcomb, Burek, King and Buerger, 2007).

The development of the juvenile court was based on the idea that individuals needed assistance rather than punishment in order to make them law abiding and productive citizens. The juvenile court had jurisdiction over all youth aged 15 and younger. The court was originally set up to be very informal and in no way resemble the adult court. The philosophy of the court held that youths were incapable of forming the intent to commit a crime. Instead their deviant behavior was the result of forces that were beyond their control (Lab, Williams, Holcomb, Burek, King and Buerger, 2007).

Today the juvenile justice system exercises jurisdiction over two distinct categories of offenders, delinquents and status offenders. Delinquent children are those who fall under a jurisdictional age limit, which varies from state to state, and who commit an act in violation of the penal code. Status offenders are commonly characterized in the states statutes as persons or children in need of supervision. Most states distinguish such behavior from delinquent conduct to reduce the effect of any stigma on children as a result of their involvement with the juvenile court (Siegel and Welsh, 2009).

Between 1994 and 1998 juvenile violent crime fell nearly 30%. Fewer than half of all serious violent crimes that are committed by juveniles are reported to law enforcement officials. This number has not altered considerably in 20 years. The pace at which juveniles committed serious violent crimes varied very little between 1973 and 1989. It peaked in 1993, and then began to decline to the lowest level since 1986. Typically, juveniles are involved in 25% of all serious violent victimizations, not including murders, which are committed every year (Basic Statistics Juvenile Crime, 2010).

In 1999, law enforcement officers arrested an estimated 2.5 million juveniles across the country. Roughly 104,000 of these arrests were for aggressive crimes. The most common offense was larceny-theft. Juveniles made up 16% percent of arrests for violent crimes and 32% for property crimes in 1999. They made up 54% of all arrests for the crime of arson, 42% for vandalism, 31% for larceny-theft and 33% for burglary. The rate of juvenile arrests for violent crimes is thought to be down. The number of juveniles who were arrested for violent crimes went down in 1999 to an eleven year low. This represents a 36% drop from the high in 1994. The rate for juveniles being arrested for property crimes remained fairly stable between 1980 and 1999. In 1998, there were 1,751 arrests of juveniles for crimes against property, for every 100,000 children in the United States ages 10 -17 (Basic Statistics Juvenile Crime, 2010).

Juvenile courts across the nation adjudicated more than 1.7 million delinquency cases during 1997. Two thousand of these were for criminal homicide, 6,500 for forcible rape, and 67,900 for aggravated assault. An additional 180,000 were for drug related offenses. The rate of delinquency cases was up 48% 1997 over 1988. This was four times greater than it was in 1960. Across the nation, it is becoming easier to try juveniles in adult criminal court. Between 1992 and 1997, there were 44 states and the District of Columbia that enacted laws aiding the transfer of juveniles into the adult system. There are two states, Vermont and Kansas which have statutory requirements for trying children as young as 10 years old in adult court. The amount of juvenile cases waived into adult criminal court hit a high in 1994 when 11,700 cases were transferred. By 1997, this number had been reduced to 8400. In 1996, juvenile courts surrendered jurisdiction over 1% of all officially processed delinquency cases, sending these juvenile offenders to the adult criminal court (Basic Statistics Juvenile Crime, 2010).

It has been seen that black juveniles are often placed in residential custody at a rate that is twice the rate for Hispanics and five times the rate for whites. In 1997, there were about 106,000 juvenile offenders under the age of 21 living in residential placement facilities. Forty percent of the criminals were black compared to 37.5% who were white. There were 18.5% who were of Hispanic dissent. The biggest majority of these were male. In a study done in Florida in 1996, it was determined that youth that were reassigned to adult prisons had a 30% higher chance of reoffending than youth that were kept in the juvenile system (Basic Statistics Juvenile Crime, 2010).

All state legislatures make provisions whereby some children may be processed through adult criminal courts. In 1990, these provisions resulted in about 82,900 felony convictions in state level criminal courts of persons between thirteen and nineteen years of age. There are four basic way to give criminal courts jurisdiction over children, 1) by lowering the age of jurisdiction, 2) by excluding offenses, 3) through judicial waiver and 4) via concurrent jurisdiction (Musick, 1995).

Identifying childhood, youth and family risk factors is vital in the prevention of juvenile offending behavior and juvenile court involvement. Indeed, determining which specific risks, or combination of risks, impact on later offending and/or delinquent youth outcomes allows practitioners to identify most efficiently which of these children and youth are most at-risk and thus to target prevention and treatment more effectively.

The juvenile courts' dual duty of community safety and youth rehabilitation has been a challenge for decades. About 76% of all cases coming before the juvenile courts in the U.S.A. are adjudicated delinquent. Definitions may vary in detail between states, but the essence is similar between the Ohio definitions and other states. In Ohio, anyone of the age of 17 or under who violates any law of the state, of the United States, or any ordinance or regulation of a political subdivision of the state, which would be a crime if committed by an adult, and who violates any lawful order of the court' may be adjudicated delinquent. Of the 1,660,700 youth adjudicated delinquent in the U.S.A. In 2004, a total of 350,000 were held in 591 detention centers, and 102,300 were held in 2964 correctional facilities. Both detention centers (county) and correctional facilities (state) are run by the youth criminal justice system (there are no federal facilities for juvenile offenders in the U.S.A.). Most youths in state facilities have also been held in detention centers, though they tend to be more chronic, serious offenders. Every day, averages of 54,500 youths are incarcerated in U.S. detention or correctional institutions. These incarcerations may harm the youths and make it more likely they will continue offending. It is important, where possible, to intervene with youth and families prior to detention or incarceration. No single factor is responsible for juvenile offending and subsequent incarcerations minority race, early childhood behavior problems and poor family functioning have all been implicated (Mallett, Stoddard Dare and Seck, 2009).