Criminal Justice 202 Juvenile Law And Procedure Chapter 1

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Status Offense

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A violation that only pertains to juveniles.

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Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA)

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Passed by United States Congress in 1974 and encouraged states to remove status offenders from secure institutions and place them with other agencies.

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Juvenile Justice System

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Stages through which juveniles are processed, sanctioned, and treated after arrests for juvenile delinquency.

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Criminal Justice System

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An interdisciplinary field studying the nature and operations of organizations providing justice services to society; consists of lawmaking bodies, including state legislatures and Congress, as well as local, state, and federal agencies that try to enforce the law.

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Law Enforcement Agencies

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Any organizations whose purpose is to enforce criminal laws; the activities of various public and private agencies at local, state, and federal levels that are designed to ensure compliance with formal rules of society that regulate social conduct.

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Prosecution and the Courts

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Organizations that pursue cases against juvenile offenders and determine whether they are guilty or innocent of the offenses alleged.

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Juvenile Offenders

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Children or youth who have violated laws or engaged in behaviors that are known as statute offenses.

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Jurisdiction

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Power of a court to hear and determine a particular type of case; also, the territory within which a court may exercise authority, such as a city, county, or state.

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1899 Illinois Act

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Created juvenile courts.

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Parens Patriae

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Means "the father of the country"; the law is in charge of the youth.

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Get-Tough-Movement

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View toward criminals and delinquents favoring maximum penalties and punishments for crimes or delinquent acts.

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Juvenile Delinquent

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Anyone that is under the age of majority that has committed one or more acts that would be classified as crimes if they were adults.

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Juvenile Delinquency

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Violation of the law by any person before his or her 18th birthday; punishable by juvenile courts; violation of any law or ordinance by anyone who has not achieved the age of majority.

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Runaways

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Juveniles that leave their home for long-term periods without parental consent or supervision.

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Truants

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Juveniles that are habitually absent from school without an excuse.

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Truancy Courts

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Special courts that convene to determine strategies to utilize for youth who absent themselves from school.

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Curfew Violators

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Youth who violate laws and ordinances of communities prohibiting them from being on the streets after certain evening hours (usually 2200); this is a delinquency prevention strategy.

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Stigmatization

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Social process whereby offenders are perceived as having undesirable characteristics as the result of incarceration or court appearances; criminal or delinquent labels are assigned to those who are processed through the criminal and juvenile justice systems.

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Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)

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Agency established by JJDPA designed to remove status offenders from the jurisdiction of juvenile courts and dispose of their cases less formally.

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Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders (DSO)

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Eliminating status offenses from the broad category of delinquent acts and removing juveniles from, or precluding their confinement in, juvenile correctional facilities; the process of removing status offenses from the jurisdiction of juvenile courts so that status offenders cannot be subject to secure confinement.

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Disproportionate Minority Confinement (Disproportionate Minority Contact) (DMC)

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The number and percentage of minority youth in correctional custodial institutions; the rate of confinement for youth in these correctional environments exceeds their representation in the general youth population; amendment to the JJDPA that tasked states to find out why.

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Deinstitutionalization

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Mandate that was part of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act of 1974 requiring states to remove youth who had been placed in detention or other custodial institutions for their involvement in status offenses.

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Dependent and Neglected Children

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Youth considered by social services or the juvenile court to be in need of some type of intervention, supervision, or placement due to circumstances in their homes or families that are beyond their control.

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Net-Widening

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Bringing juveniles into the juvenile justice system who would not otherwise be involved in delinquent activity; applies to many status offenders.

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Relabeling

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Action, usually taken by police officers, of redefining juvenile acts as delinquent when in fact such acts are harmless or status offenses; result is harsher treatment by police of arrested juveniles.

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Convictions

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Judgments of a court, based on a jury or judicial verdict or on the guilty pleas of defendants, that the defendants are guilty of the offense alleged.

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Adversarial Proceedings

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Opponent-driven court litigation, where one side opposes the other; prosecution seeks to convict or find defendants guilty, while defense counsel seeks to defend their client and seek their acquittal.

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Courts of Record

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Any court where a written record is kept of court proceedings.

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Court Reporters

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Court officials who keep a written word for word and/or tape recorded record of court proceedings.

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Standard of Proof

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The type of evidence required to sustain a petition of delinquency against a juvenile, depending on the seriousness of the offense; how guilt is measured or determined.

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Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

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Evidentiary standard used in criminal courts to establish guilt or innocence of a criminal defendant and utilized in the delinquency proceedings.

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Preponderance of the Evidence

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Standard used in civil courts to determine defendant or plaintiff liability and where the result does not involve incarceration.

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Taken Into Custody

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A decision made by a police officer that a youth should be held temporarily.

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Jail Removal Initiative

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Action sponsored by the OJJDP and the JJDPA to dissuade law enforcement officers from taking juveniles to jail.

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Jails

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City or county operated and financed facilities designed to house misdemeanors serving sentences of less than one year, pretrial detainees, witnesses, juveniles, vagrants, and others.

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Lockups

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Small rooms or cells designed for confining arrested adults and or juveniles for short periods, such as 24 hours or less.

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Preventative Detention

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Authority to detain suspects before trial without bail where suspects are likely to flee from the jurisdiction or pose serious risks to others.

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Preventative Detention

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Authority to detain suspects before trial without bail where suspects are likely to flee from the jurisdiction or pose serious risk to others.

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Pretrial Detention

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Holding delinquent or criminal suspects in incarcerative facilities pending their forthcoming adjudicatory hearing or trial.

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Referrals

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Any action which involves bringing a youth to juvenile court by law enforcement officer, interested citizen, family member, or school official; usually based upon law violations, delinquency, or unruly conduct.

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Petition

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A document whereby an official or private individual can bring charges against a juvenile and ask the juvenile court to hear the case.

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Intake Officer

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Juvenile probation officer or other court representative who conducts screenings and preliminary interviews with alleged juvenile offenders and their families.

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Intake

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Critical phase in which a juvenile probation officer or other official determines whether to release juveniles to parental custody or recommend their detention for further juvenile court action.

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Screening

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Procedure used by intake and prosecution to determine which cases have prosecutive merit and which ones do not. Decision to divert cases from the court to other agencies and organizations or to proceed with formal processing.

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Intake Hearings (Screenings)

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Proceedings in which a juvenile official, such as a juvenile probation officer, interviews a youth charged with a delinquent or status offense and his/her parents or guardian to determine the best strategy for dealing with the behavior that resulted in the referral to court.

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Adjudication Hearing

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Formal proceeding involving a prosecuting attorney and a defense attorney where evidence is presented and the juvenile's involvement is determined by the juvenile judge.

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Adjudication

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Judgement or action on a petition filed with the juvenile court.

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Dispose

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To decide the sanction to be imposed on a juvenile following an adjudication hearing.

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Dispositions

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Sanctions resulting from a delinquency adjudication; may be nominal, conditional, or custodial.

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Nominal Dispositions

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Adjudicatory disposition resulting in minor sanctions, such as warnings or probation.

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Conditional Dispositions

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Result of a delinquency adjudication obligating youth to comply with one or more conditions of probation or a similar program.

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Restorative Justice

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Mediation between victims and offenders whereby a suitable sanction is imposed and agreed to by offender and victim; may involve victim compensation and some offender service.

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Custodial Dispositions

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Either nonsecure or secure options resulting from a delinquency adjudication which involve placement in a group home, ranch, camp, or juvenile custodial institution.

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Nonsecure Custody (Confinement)

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Custodial disposition in which a juvenile is placed in a group home, foster care, or other non secure residential setting where he or she is permitted to leave with permission of parents, guardians, or supervisors.

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Secure Custody (Confinement)

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Incarceration of juvenile offender in facility that restricts movement in community; similar to an adult penal facility involving total incarceration.

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Hard Time

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Also known as flat time; actual amount of secure confinement juveniles must serve as the result of a custodial disposition from a juvenile court judge.

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Aftercare

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A wide variety of programs and services for juveniles, including halfway houses, counseling services, employment assistance, and medical treatment designed to assist youth after their release from residential placement.