Juvinele Corrections

Juvinele Corrections

Kendra Strong Lisa Calderon CJC 1450 Intro to Corrections November 6, 2008 When a juvenile commits a crime, do they instantly become an adult? Some Coloradans believe that if a teenager commits an adult crime, they should be directly filed as an adult and face the adult punishment for the crime. But are these children evencapable of understanding the impacts of their decisions? Although the juvenile court system is a fairly recent development, juveniles have been committing violent crimes and status offenses since the beginning of history. The question is should these violent children be put into a youth program where they can go with the hopes of being rehabilitated and getting back on the right track or should they be sent to jail for life, with no hopes for a future. In the late eighteenth century, juveniles under the age of seven were seen as below the age of reason and were deemed incapable of criminal intent. However, this means that those over age seven were handled the same as adults (Seiter 263). Once convicted the youths were subject to prison sentences, and even execution. Early reformers soon recognized the need to handle children and adults differently, thus the Houses of Refuge were created in 1824. These houses were developed with the best interest of the children in mind, however they used strict discipline to train, house, and educate the delinquents. In 1899 the first juvenile court was established in Illinois with the passing of the Juvenile Court Act. This act created a special court for neglected, dependent, and delinquent children. The purpose of the act was to rehabilitate rather than punish offenders and is based on the premise that children are different from adults in terms of comprehension and brain developments, that juveniles are more responsive to treatment and rehab and it recognized the need for individualized treatment plans. The use of a separate juvenile court spread rapidly and by 1925 48 states had established juvenile...

Similar Essays