What Causes The Problem Of Juveniles - 1164 Words

Chapter 2: What Cause The Problem To Exist? The study of juveniles is very important because children and adolescents are supposed to be the future of our world. Not only that, but we, the citizens of the United States, should pay more attention to the juveniles and create a new set of laws that would prevent juveniles from committing any source of crimes. If we do something about it before any further problems get involved, we can reduce the crimes of our communities by starting working with our juveniles. This involves some rehabilitation and some specific programs that can help our juveniles not to get in problems. Since the early 19th century, people would consider children as young adults, and it was expected from them to behave†¦show more content†¦What was the difference between the juvenile courts and the adult courts? It wasn’t until the year 1899 that the first juvenile court was established in the state of Illinois. The primary difference between juvenile c ourts and adult courts was that the juvenile courts were civil in nature while adult courts were criminal. The benefit of a civil was that the courts could focus on the youth, rather than the so-called offense, and have a range of options towards the youth s rehabilitation. The legal doctrine of parens patriae formed the foundation of juvenile courts and meant that the State was given the authority to make decisions for the benefit of the child as a parent would. Parens patriae is in Latin for parent of his or her country. It means that the state has the power to act as guardian for those who are unable to care for themselves, such as children or disabled individuals. For instance, under this doctrine a judge may change custody, child support, or other rulings affecting a child s well-being, regardless of what the parents may have agreed to (Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary). The doctrine of parens patriae continues to the present time in the juvenile justice system as wel l as in schools. Does that mean that the juveniles had rights? Juveniles, on the year 1960’s, who were in the juvenile court system did not have any constitutional legal rights, but that changed on the year 1967 with the United States