Reforming Juvenile Justice

Reforming Juvenile Justice PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309278937
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 463

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Book Description
Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts.

Reforming Juvenile Justice

Reforming Juvenile Justice PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309278937
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 463

Get Book Here

Book Description
Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts.

The Age of Culpability

The Age of Culpability PDF Author: Gideon Yaffe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019880332X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Why be lenient towards children who commit crimes? Reflection on the grounds for such leniency is the entry point into the development, in this book, of a theory of the nature of criminal responsibility and desert of punishment for crime. Gideon Yaffe argues that child criminals are owed lesser punishments than adults thanks not to their psychological, behavioural, or neural immaturity but, instead, because they are denied the vote. This conclusion is reached through accounts of the nature of criminal culpability, desert for wrongdoing, strength of legal reasons, and what it is to have a say over the law. The centrepiece of this discussion is the theory of criminal culpability. To be criminally culpable is for one's criminal act to manifest a failure to grant sufficient weight to the legal reasons to refrain. The stronger the legal reasons, then, the greater the criminal culpability. Those who lack a say over the law, it is argued, have weaker legal reasons to refrain from crime than those who have a say. They are therefore reduced in criminal culpability and deserve lesser punishment for their crimes. Children are owed leniency, then, because of the political meaning of age rather than because of its psychological meaning. This position has implications for criminal justice policy, with respect to, among other things, the interrogation of children suspected of crimes and the enfranchisement of adult felons.

Our Children, Their Children

Our Children, Their Children PDF Author: Darnell F. Hawkins
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226319911
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 471

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Book Description
In Our Children, Their Children, a prominent team of researchers argues that a second-rate and increasingly punitive juvenile justice system is allowed to persist because most people believe it is designed for children in other ethnic and socioeconomic groups. While public opinion, laws, and social policies that convey distinctions between "our children" and "their children" may seem to conflict with the American ideal of blind justice, they are hardly at odds with patterns of group differentiation and inequality that have characterized much of American history. Our Children, Their Children provides a state-of-the-science examination of racial and ethnic disparities in the American juvenile justice system. Here, contributors document the precise magnitude of these disparities, seek to determine their causes, and propose potential solutions. In addition to race and ethnicity, contributors also look at the effects on juvenile justice of suburban sprawl, the impact of family and neighborhood, bias in postarrest decisions, and mental health issues. Assessing the implications of these differences for public policy initiatives and legal reforms, this volume is the first critical summary of what is known and unknown in this important area of social research.

Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice

Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309172357
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
Even though youth crime rates have fallen since the mid-1990s, public fear and political rhetoric over the issue have heightened. The Columbine shootings and other sensational incidents add to the furor. Often overlooked are the underlying problems of child poverty, social disadvantage, and the pitfalls inherent to adolescent decisionmaking that contribute to youth crime. From a policy standpoint, adolescent offenders are caught in the crossfire between nurturance of youth and punishment of criminals, between rehabilitation and "get tough" pronouncements. In the midst of this emotional debate, the National Research Council's Panel on Juvenile Crime steps forward with an authoritative review of the best available data and analysis. Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents recommendations for addressing the many aspects of America's youth crime problem. This timely release discusses patterns and trends in crimes by children and adolescentsâ€"trends revealed by arrest data, victim reports, and other sources; youth crime within general crime; and race and sex disparities. The book explores desistanceâ€"the probability that delinquency or criminal activities decrease with ageâ€"and evaluates different approaches to predicting future crime rates. Why do young people turn to delinquency? Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents what we know and what we urgently need to find out about contributing factors, ranging from prenatal care, differences in temperament, and family influences to the role of peer relationships, the impact of the school policies toward delinquency, and the broader influences of the neighborhood and community. Equally important, this book examines a range of solutions: Prevention and intervention efforts directed to individuals, peer groups, and families, as well as day care-, school- and community-based initiatives. Intervention within the juvenile justice system. Role of the police. Processing and detention of youth offenders. Transferring youths to the adult judicial system. Residential placement of juveniles. The book includes background on the American juvenile court system, useful comparisons with the juvenile justice systems of other nations, and other important information for assessing this problem.

Decision Making and Juvenile Justice

Decision Making and Juvenile Justice PDF Author: Paul E. Tracy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 031301096X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Based on a comprehensive study of three counties in Texas, this work examines the idea of differential handling of minority youth offenders. Traditional wisdom indicates that minorities are over-represented in the juvenile justice system due to racism and discrimination within the system itself. The author refutes this logic by challenging current studies and examining the results of the Texas study. The findings suggest that minorities are represented in the juvenile justice system in greater numbers than their majority offender counterparts due to their greater involvement in criminal activity, not to any differential treatment they may receive at crucial decision points within the system. Allegations of racial bias against the juvenile justice system are often supported by the federal government, which suggests that minorities continue to be targeted more frequently for arrest, prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment merely because they are persons of color. Drawing on new research, the author addresses racial disparity in the juvenile justice system and contends that previous research suffers methodological and statistical analysis problems, resulting in the mischaracterization of the issue of racial bias. The present study argues that most minority juveniles receive different case outcomes because of the severity of their current offense, and both the length and severity of their prior delinquency careers. Tracy's research ultimately indicates that rather than being discriminatory, the juvenile system is, instead, reacting to a particular type of delinquent using legally permissible guidelines.

The Contexts of Juvenile Justice Decision Making

The Contexts of Juvenile Justice Decision Making PDF Author: Michael J. Leiber
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 079148663X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
An in-depth examination of the contextual nature of decision making and the causes of disproportionate minority confinement in four relatively homogenous juvenile courts in Iowa, this book explores the subjective social psychological processes of juvenile court officers and the factors that influence those processes. Iowa, although a state with a predominantly white population, has one of the highest minority incarceration rates for juveniles. Michael J. Leiber focuses on the relationships between adherence to correctional orientations (such as retribution and rehabilitation) and decision-makers' views concerning race, crime, family, and respect for authority with judgments and differential outcomes for youth. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies are used to determine the extent to which correctional ideologies and decision-makers' stereotyping of minorities are fueled by a wide range of contingencies, the impact of case processing and outcomes of whites, African Americans, and Native Americans, and how it varies by jurisdiction.

The Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making

The Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making PDF Author: Wim Bernasco
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190674741
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 777

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Book Description
Although the issue of offender decision-making pervades almost every discussion of crime and law enforcement, only a few comprehensive texts cover and integrate information about the role of decision-making in crime. The Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making provide high-quality reviews of the main paradigms in offender decision-making, such as rational choice theory and dual-process theory. It contains up-to-date reviews of empirical research on decision-making in a wide range of decision types including not only criminal initiation and desistance, but also choice of locations, times, targets, victims, methods as well as large variety crimes including homicide, robbery, domestic violence, burglary, street crime, sexual crimes, and cybercrime. Lastly, it provides in-depth treatments of the major methods used to study offender decision-making, including experiments, observation studies, surveys, offender interviews, and simulations. Comprehensive and authoritative, the Handbook will quickly become the primary source of theoretical, methodological, and empirical knowledge about decision-making as it relates to criminal behavior.

The War on Kids

The War on Kids PDF Author: Cara H. Drinan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190605553
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Despite inventing the juvenile court a little more than a century ago, the United States has become an international outlier in its juvenile sentencing practices. The War on Kids explains how that happened and how policymakers can correct the course of juvenile justice today.

The Decision-making Network

The Decision-making Network PDF Author: Patrick R. Anderson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594608360
Category : Criminal justice, Administration of
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Decision-Making Network presents criminal justice to undergraduate students as a network of interrelated decisions made by diverse actors in multiple agencies. Legislative decisions about what should be the content of the criminal law, police officers'' decisions regarding investigation and arrest, prosecutors'' decisions regarding whether to prosecute and what charges to bring, judges'' decisions, appellate court decisions, juries'' decisions, correctional decisions ... all comprise the complex network of criminal justice. This text examines criminal justice decisions in historical context with attention to the Constitutional values and principles which undergird American criminal justice. Students learn how crises often drive the making of law, the development of policies, and the practice of criminal justice. It examines the tensions between civil liberties and public safety, and it introduces the challenges of terrorism, immigration, drug enforcement, and other emerging issues which confront the criminal justice decision maker. "There are many introduction to criminal justice textbooks; only a few can be considered "classics." This is one of those. When the late Don Newman conceived this text and when Pat Anderson joined him as a co-author, the approach was unique in getting students to consider not "what" criminal justice is but, rather, how decision-making at various points dynamically affects what we think of as the disparate segments of the criminal justice system. With the addition of Ris Slate in the contemporary version, the decision-making approach continues and is updated to today''s contentious times in which legislative decisions made for ideological reasons result in public expectations at odds with pragmatic criminal justice decisions in the field. One of the most difficult tasks in teaching criminal justice is getting students to understand how ideological views of crime affect the practical nature of decision-making on the streets, in the offices, and around the courtrooms. By introducing these ideas at the level of an introductory course, this text makes a professor''s job substantially easier." -- Frank P. Williams III, University of Houston-Downtown "The text presents the criminal justice system in a manner different than other texts--as a complicated network influenced by a variety of actors, many of whom are behind-the-scenes and perhaps motivated by interests other than public safety. This framework for the text is particularly useful, as it helps students to appreciate the complexity of case processing, and more importantly, to understand why things are done as they are done." -- Sharon Chamard, University of Alaska Anchorage "The Decision-Making Network is a refreshing alternative to the traditional introduction to criminal justice textbook. As an assistant professor teaching a minimum of four introductory level criminal justice courses per year I value the approach taken by Anderson and Slate in this new text. This book includes both the historical, procedural and constitutional issues necessary for a criminal justice textbook as well as a focus on the values and context surrounding the application of justice in our crime control system. The critical analysis of how social crisis drives public policy concerning crime control is especially inspiring and is sure to invigorate meaningful classroom discussion and enhance critical thinking skills in our students. This book provides not only an overview of the criminal justice system, as is expected of any introduction to criminal justice textbook, but also invites students to ask "Why does the system work the way it does?" and "Is this the best possible way of providing justice?" These are valuable skills for any student entering "the decision-making network" after graduation." -- Suzanne M. Godboldt, Ph.D., Mercyhurst College The Teacher''s Manual is available electronically on a CD or via email. Please contact Beth Hall at [email protected] to request a copy. PowerPoint slides are available upon adoption. Sample slides from the full, 658-slide presentation are available to view here. Email [email protected] for more information.

Juveniles at Risk

Juveniles at Risk PDF Author: Christopher Slobogin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019977840X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
In this book, Slobogin and Fondacaro present their vision for a new juvenile justice system, founded on the evidence at hand and promoting the principles of rehabilitation and reintegration into society. The authors develop their juvenile justice policy proposals effectively by carefully addressing the problems with past policy approches and recent theoretical contributions.