Juvenile Court Case Analysis

The American Juvenile justice system is where youth, who are caught in a criminal act, are convicted of their crimes. The juvenile justice system also intervenes using the police, court and correctional facility for delinquent behavior. The juvenile justice system was not always around. In 1824 The House of Refuge was opened in New York. This was the first attempt to separate children and adults. Before this, children as young as 7 who were convicted of crimes were put in prison with adults. The Juvenile Justice system was established in 1899 in the United States. The first case was heard in Illinois. The Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899 created the first juvenile court system with authority and jurisdiction over abused, neglected, delinquent, …show more content…
(Soulier & Scott, 2010) The main difference between juvenile courts and adult courts was that juvenile courts were civil and adult courts were criminal. And until 1967, youth did not have any constitutional legal rights. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in In re Gault changed that. The Supreme Court decided that even though they were civil cases, juveniles still could potentially have a loss of liberty. The child’s liberty is precious, and they should have a lawyer to help them protect that liberty. (Stansby, 1967; Mlyniec, 2010) So because of that, all juvenile court cases where the offender could be imprisoned have the following rights; The right to have an appellate court review the lower court's decision, The right to confrontation and cross-examination, The privilege against self-incrimination, The right to receive notice of charges, The right to receive a transcript of the proceedings, and The right to obtain legal …show more content…
There are two other types: status offenses and dependency cases. There is usually a different process to all three types. Delinquency cases involve youth who have committed crimes. Which means that if an adult had committed the crime the case would be tried in normal criminal court. But the process is significantly different between the two court systems. Status offenses are violation that only applies to youth. Such as running away, truancy, underage drinking and curfew violation. The final type is dependency cases, these cases are when youth are being neglected or abused by their parents or guardians. These cases the judge will determine whether or not the home is safe for the child or if they should be removed from the unsafe