Juvenile Justice System

I. An historical assessment of juvenile justice trends: the oscillation between punitive and rehabilitative approaches.

II. We are now in a punitive phase.

III. The move toward treating juveniles as adults.

IV. Legal definition of juvenile offender

V. Definition of juvenile justice system.

A. two goals of juvenile justice system:

1. to protect young people who break the law

2. to protect society from young offenders

VI. The tension created between these contradictory goals has prompted the increased adoption of the corporatist model, that is, the burdens of juvenile justice are being pushed onto the private sector.

VII. Some examples of preventative approaches offered as alternatives to traditional juvenile justice models.

VIII. The lack of support from research data concerning these alternative approaches has prompted the shift toward an emphasis on punishment.

IX. The trend towards treating youths like adults necessitates a brief examination of the criminal justice system as a whole.

A. The revolving door nature of the criminal justice system: criminal recidivism and criminal culture.

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d the other is to protect society from young offenders...it is the resolution of this duality that presents a problem to be solved” (6). The combination of the tension created by this dualism and the above sentiments of the American public backed by stricter youthful offender legislation, have prompted many experts in the field to believe that an ideology change has occurred within the American juvenile justice system. Instead of the welfare and justice models of American tradition, the corporatist model now seems to be taking a predominant role: “Juvenile justice developments tend to be conceptualized and explained in terms of their accommodation within the respective parameters of the welfare and justice models. It is arguable that the corporatist model is a more appropriate description of the contemporary Anglo-Welsh juvenile justice system in the United States” (Pratt 236). There are high costs associated with juvenile justice which is perhaps why most Americans have a viewpoint on the issue. For example, the United States has high costs from taking care of juvenile criminals. Some of these costs come from court costs, attorney’s fees, therapy, and probation officer salaries. Yet, there is a tendency to believe that
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Approximate Word count = 5745
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page)

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