- The juvenile justice system originated from the idea that children should be treated differently than adults under the law due to their immaturity. In the past, children were punished the same as adults, including facing the death penalty. - The first juvenile court was established in Cook County, Illinois in 1899. This started a movement where other states created separate courts to handle juvenile offenders with the goal of rehabilitation due to children's undeveloped decision making. - Juvenile courts have jurisdiction over juvenile offenders and certain status offenses. Status offenses are actions that would not be considered criminal if committed by an adult, such as truancy or underage drinking.

1. Juvenile Justice Systems CRJ 235-01

2. Objectives Understands the concepts of Chapter One. Students will be able to use the effectively use the terms and definitions used in Chapter One. Students will be able to write about, and understand the historical events leading to today’s Juvenile Justice System.

3. Origins Early on ( think 16 th ,17 th ,18 th centuries ) there was no distinction between adults and children. Children were treated by adults as young adults. If a child committed an offense he/she were punished the same as adults. Children were eligible for the death penalty in many cases.

4. Why Not? Why shouldn’t a child be treated the same as an adult? Immaturity Children may react to stress in a more violent way Less developed Their immaturity may make rehabilitation viable

5. Origins continued 1899 Cook County, Illinois First Juvenile Court Eventually all states adopted the idea of Juvenile Courts . Again the idea being that the immaturity of children would be beneficial in terms of rehabilitation Know this NY uses the term FAMILY COURT The idea that the kingdom or state had an obligation to care for children had started in earlier centuries, but was not always effectively implemented. The idea of “state as parent” leads to the term parens patriae .

6. Juvenile Court and Parens Patriae The state felt that it had to step in ( circa late 1800’s ) to help juveniles when parents Were incapable Or unwilling to care for their juvenile children. The first idea of Juvenile Courts were that they would- Care for the child and do what was best. However, this did not always happen and it is not exactly how the court is operated today. We’ll discuss these aspects later but know that significant changes were made to the Juv Just System over time. Including Supreme Court case law and changing social attitudes

7. Juvenile Court Jurisdiction Family Court Jurisdiction - the authority to hear a case . Legal authority and range of authority. State laws give Juvenile Courts their power to have jurisdiction of juveniles . In New York the law is called the Family Court Act . Juvenile Courts have jurisdiction over children and offenses they may commit. Each state has to determine what was deemed a juvenile. Further we must understand the term Delinquency.

8. Terms to know and understand Delinquency The state defines what delinquency might be but typically there are two categories of delinquency. First the behavior that is prohibited by the juvenile laws (NYS FAMILY COURT ACT) usually consisting of the Penal Law and other sections of law prohibiting various offenses. Examples-

9. Terms The second category is offenses that are committed and deemed as wrong due to the age of juvenile. These offenses committed by an adult would NOT constitute an offense. Examples- These offenses are called STATUS OFFENSES

10. Status Offenders Skipping school, drinking alcohol, running away, incorroigible,smoking tobacco and causing problems in school. Half of the states in USA call status offenders Juvenile Delinquents. The other half use terms like CHINS MINS JINS or PINS PINS- Persons in need of supervision

11. What’s a Juvenile? Define- In NYS anyone under the age of 16 and over the age of 6 (7-15) Under the age of 7 is infancy in New York This comes from old English common law.