Junior: Hopefully, Your Only Contact

¶ … Junior:

Hopefully, your only contact with the juvenile justice system will be as a student of the system, never as a defendant. Regardless, it is important to keep in mind the differences between the adult and juvenile courts, in case one of your friends -- or you -- finds yourself accused of a crime. While superficially, the two systems may seem to be the same, there are several key procedural and philosophical differences between how juveniles are viewed by the law, versus how adults are arrested, tried, and convicted.

It might be assumed that a juvenile is always treated less harshly than an adult. But this is not always the case. First of all, there are certain crimes for which only juveniles can be arrested, such as truancy or violating a curfew. These are called status-based offenses, namely the criminal nature of the act is based in your 'status' as a young person, not because the act itself is necessarily antisocial. These laws are often designed to protect children from their own immature mentalities. The law acts in loco parentis or parens patriae (as a parent) by forcing juveniles to go to school, to not run away from home, and to not frequent places during unsafe hours (Champion 2006, p. 15).

Like an adult, as a juvenile, you are guaranteed certain constitutional rights, even if you are arrested. For example, the arresting officer must have probable cause when he or she detains you. During an arrest, you even have some additional protections, to ensure that you understand the implications of what is occurring. In most states, the officer must make your parent or some other adult aware of your apprehension when you are charged with a crime (Champion 2006, p. 95). Like an adult, you can have a lawyer or another representative of the court speak for your interests during legal proceedings. You, as juvenile, just like an adult, have the right to be represented by an attorney and can 'take the fifth' to avoid self-incrimination. When accused of a crime in a criminal court you must also be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The legal system in which you enter as a juvenile may look very much like the adult system. There will be a judge sitting before you when you enter a courtroom. However, the atmosphere may be very different. Your parents, attorney, social workers, and other community representatives will likely first work together to arrive at the best solution to ensure your welfare. The nature of the juvenile justice system may be adversarial at times, but unlike the adult criminal system it is not necessarily so. Agreement is the goal. In fact, depending on the nature of the offense, a juvenile case may be dismissed or dealt with in an informal hearing, rather than subject to formal proceedings at all.

The purpose of the juvenile system is almost always to rehabilitate the offender, rather than to enact social retribution. Given that our society believes that a child usually does not have the moral or cognitive capacity to judge the wrongfulness or rightness of his or her own actions like an adult, there seems to be a need for two systems of justice. For example, a child who burns down a building because he is playing with matches is unlikely to deserve the same type of sentence or treatment as an adult who commits arson. This is why, unlike adult courts, juvenile courts are usually closed to the public, so not as to taint the reputation of the child if he or she wishes to move on from the initial crime, into a socially responsible adulthood.