JUVENILE LAW FALL 2007 JAN SHELDON
I. Background
A. delinquency currently regarded as a major social problem
B. Getting younger and younger kids entering the system
C. Not idiosyncratic to the US; also seeing an increase in other industrialized nations
D. Other side of the issue: kids growing up in dysfunctional families: access to dangerous weapons, parents on drugs, etc.- how do we try to prevent this and intervene with children and families?
à US as compared to other industrialized nations: rank first in GDP, but then we drop much lower for children and statistics
II. How we measure delinquency
A. 3 primary ways:
1. Official data- comes from FBI uniform crime reports
a. age, crime, race, name, sex
b. Trends: over time, there has been an increase and then recently, a decline in serious crime
c. Juveniles under 17 represent 10% of the population but are arrested for 16% of the crimes
d. Between 1994 and 2003, juvenile crimes fell more than adult rates did; nonetheless, young people entered the system charged with drug and violent acts as an increase (children under 15)
e. Murders of family members remain constant
f. Problems with Official Data:
i. Issues of confidentiality- more kids committing crimes than what the statistics say-
ii. More kids out there committing crimes than are picked up (not caught)
iii. Official data does not include victimless crimes
iv. Arrest patterns influenced by police practice
v. False reporting by police departments (depends on contingencies- i.e. show us you are effective in dealing with juvenile crime- leads to underreporting)
vi. Some people argue juvenile crime is over-reported—juveniles more easily apprehended by adults . Kids are more likely to commit crime as a group than adults are- easier to identify them
vii. Chronic offender- the offender that keeps offending- ex. 2 million of the offenses are committed by 500,000 juveniles- so looks as if we have more than we really have
g. Impulsive behavior- thrill as the motivator
h. Have to analyze and ask if it is really representative
2. Self-report data- use of questionnaires about what they have done
a. Institute for Social Research at Univ. of Mich- Monitoring the Future; sample 3000 kids and then get data
i. 13% reported they hurt someone badly enough they required medical treatment
ii. Juvenile crime seems to be greater than the official statistics
iii. Extrapolation of the data
b. Problem: why don’t those go together? Problems with self-report data:
i. kids not taking it seriously
ii. kids who are nervous that it won’t be anonymous and so won’t report what they really have done
iii. Many questionnaires will ask questions like “Have you ever disobeyed your parents”, etc. including a broader range of offenses- much broader picture than felonies and misdemeanors
3 Victimization data- done primarily by the NCS; massive house to house survey of victims of criminal behavior in the US- trying to measure not only the crime but the personal characteristics of victims
a. Ask victims to report whether they have been victims of a crime, did they report it, etc.
b. Victim data seems to be different than the official data due in large part that most victims do not report crimes
i. 48% of violent crimes were reported
ii. 77% MV thefts reported
c. Young people have the highest probability of being a victim of crime
i. Highest is 16-19, then the 12-15
ii. Teens usu. victimized by people they know and during the day
iii. Male teenagers significantly more likely to be the victim of a crime
iv. Violent crime: 1/3 of juvenile victims are under the age of 12
4. Age of onset is important
a. Juvenile law is determined by individual state statutes
b. Think about: At what age do we think a child has the ability to form criminal intent? Is there a specific age?
5. Gender and delinquency- boys disproportionately commit more offenses than girls, but those numbers have been changing over the years
6. More females are now coming in now than previously
7. Status offenses are those things only because of status as a juvenile
a. Females actually taken into custody more often than males for status offenses
b. Self-report data tells us female delinquency is much higher than Official data tells us
8. Racial/Ethnic patterns
a. Disproportionately in arrest patterns, but self-report shows it is about the same
b. Some argue there is a selection process by the police, different kinds of crime
c. Victim data- minority youth overrepresented in terms of serious and violent personal crimes (i.e. robbery, rape, etc.)
9. Social Class and Delinquency- economic status and delinquency
a. Does level of income make a difference?
b. Official data- social class is a major predictor- juveniles arrested at highest rates in economically deprived areas
c. Self report- does not indicate that- what does that say to us? Maybe sending police into certain areas and they are looking for kids in those areas
10. Chronic Juvenile Offender- begins under age 10; has serious and persistent brushes with the law and seem to be violent- don’t age out
a. Study in the 1940s- followed kids for 18 years in Philadelphia- Most significant finding: 627 out of 10,000 were arrested 5 times or more- labeled them the chronic offender- that 6% was re
decide what to do with a child. Wasn’t unheard of to harm children, etc.
B. English Law
1. Basically, if you look back to the 1800s, in England there was only one criminal justice system that dealt with both adults and juveniles.
a. Under 7, a person was considered incapable of having mens rea to commit a crime.
b. 7-14, a presumption that a child could not commit a crime, but if the state could prove the capacity to distinguish right from wrong, they would be treated as an adult.
c. Over 14 child was considered to be an adult.
2. Method of dealing with kids was unsatisfactory.
a. If on one hand they were brought into the system and were being treated as an adult, judge might not want to put them in with adults and so would show leniency.
b. But if the child had really engaged in a criminal offense, the child thought nothing would happen to them. Other issue- being put into the adult prison- not a good way of dealing with a kid.
C. How it began:
1. At one point only had one system for both adults and children
2. Over 14- adult at common law
3. Often times judges showed much greater leniency for children, though, than for adults
4. Usually if adults said a child committed a crime, the court would take the adult’s word
5. 2 options at that time:
a. Sent to adult prison
i. Problem:
1) abuse
2) taught how to become a better criminal
b. Acquit to avoid prison
i. Problem
1) kids learned that there were no consequences for behavior
6. Child reformers- usu. Wealthy ladies who knew concerns of children going into adult prison but also wanted them to have an alternative proposed Houses of Refuge- interventions and sanctions but no abuse (1820s to 30s)
a. at this time, children had no constitutional right to liberty
b. Provide structure, care, but no legal safeguards
c. Set up on very strict moral and mental regime
d. What happened is they turned more into work houses with the industrial revolution- used for free labor
i. began taking kids more than just for criminal offenses and began taking a lot of kids for growing up in poverty (expanded their jurisdiction)
