5. the early juvenile court

Characteristics of 19th Century Child
Saving
• Founded on belief that human behavior resulted from free
will
• Parents and environment led children astray
• Structure and discipline was primary means of forcing
conformity
• Heaving emphasis on religious virtue

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Contribution of 19th Century Child
Savers
• Laid the structural foundation for today‟s child welfare and
juvenile justice systems
• Promoted legislation that improved social conditions for
children
• Promoted an expanded definition of childhood


Major Developments of the Late 19th and
Early 20th Century
• Juvenile Court Movement
• Social Work Movement
• Science of Psychology
• Mental Hygiene Movement


Legal Foundation of the Juvenile Court
• Parens Patriae
• In loco parentis
• Limited criminal responsibility
• Best interest of the child
• Individualized justice


Early Advocates
• Lucy Flower
• Julia Lathrop
• Jane Adams
• Judge Julian Mack
• Judge Benjamin Lindsey


Goals of juvenile court advocates
• Remove children form adult jails and prisons
• Control children‟s behavior outside of the
criminal court
• Avoid the obstacles of due process protections
by establishing a civil process


First Juvenile Court
AN ACT TO REGULATE THE TREATMENT AND
CONTROL OF DEPENDENT, NEGLECTED AND
DELINQUENT CHILDREN (ILLINOIS
LEGISLATURE 1899)


Characertistics of a Juvenile Court
Proceeding
• Informal hearing
• Absence of due process
• Judge as parental figure
• Probation officer as neutral agent


JUDGE BENJAMIN LINDSEY
• Appointed to the County Court Bench
in Denver.
• Active from 1901-1927.
• No prior experience with Juveniles.
• Required them to go to reform school.
• Those who had problems in the reform
schools, Lindsey found a statue that
allowed courts to classify children as
„Juvenile Disorderly Persons.‟
• 1903, Lindsey created an act known as
the Colorado Juvenile Court Statute:
have jurisdiction over adults who
contributed to delinquency of minors.
• Also allowed the courts to put youths
between ages of 16-21 on same
probation terms as children.
• He became personally involved with
the juvenile, attempting to reform every
children who went through his court.


METHODS OF JUDGE LINDSEY

• His method was different where the boys that went through
his court were considered “his boys.”
• Believed that every children is good but is on the wrong
path.
• Strengthen the children beliefs by making all supports and
encouragements available.
• Rehabilitation was everything.
• Saw the court as a “chamber that victimized children.”
• He discharged social responsibility for children who has
been in the house of refuge.


Elements of the Juvenile Court
• Courts
• Child Guidance clinics
• Probation case work services
• Detention Facilities


Constitutionality of the Juvenile Court

• Commonwealth v Fisher (1905)


The Juvenile Court Movement
• By 1920 all but three states had juvenile courts
and by 1945 all states had juvenile courts


Child Guidance Clinic
Grew out of two social movements:

• Mental Hygiene Movement
• Psychology/Social Work Movement


Heredity Feeblemindedness and
Delinquency
• Richard Dugdale & the Jukes heredity
• Henry Goddard & the Kallikaks
• IQ Tests
• 15% -50% of criminals feebleminded
• Sterilization
• 1899 first sterilization performed at Indiana reformatory
• California Bureau of Juvenile Research (1937)


Crime and the Feebleminded
• Not inherently criminal

• More susceptible to suggestion and bad influences

• Easier to place on the path to a law abiding lifestyle than
the normal functioning


Eugenics
• A social philosophy which advocates the
improvement of human hereditary traits through
social intervention. The goals have variously
been to create more healthy, intelligent
people, save society resources, and lessen
human suffering.


Child-Guidance Clinic
• A child-guidance clinic is defined as a co-
ordinated attempt to the study and treatment of
personality and conduct disorders of children
and youth, using the art of
psychiatrist, psychologist, or psychometrist, and
the social worker.


Child-Guidance Clinic
• Dr. William Healy
• Juvenile Psychopathic Institute
• Embraced medical and psychological techniques
• Diagnostic summaries & prognoses


5. the early juvenile court

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