Treatment of Juveniles Offenders in 20th Century

Treatment of Juveniles Offenders in 20th Century

Introduction

Juvenile delinquency refers to crimes committed by minors. Most legal systems address this issue using procedural specialties when prosecuting such conduct and specific coercive repression, such as, juvenile detention centers. The juvenile crimes often receive considerable attention from the media and politicians. This is because the level and types of youth crime can be used by analysts and the media as an indicator of the general state of morality and public order in a country (Rubin & Sloan, 1986). They can also be a source of alarm and moral panic. Like most types of offenses, crimes committed by juveniles have increased since the mid-twentieth century. There are many theories about the causes of juvenile crimes, regarded as particularly important within criminology. This is because the number of crimes grows enormously between fifteen and twenty years. The development of juvenile justice system and treatment of the juvenile offenders have evolved during the nineteenth and the twentieth century. In the world of today, there are separate juvenile justice systems all over the world which deal with the juvenile offenders. The juvenile justice system bears a number of similarities with the adult justice system there are, however, a number of profound differences (Moore, 2003). These variations have made their place as a result of the recognition of differences between the intellect and maturity of an adult and a juvenile. They have also evolved as a result of the understanding that rehabilitation is more important than punishment in case of juvenile offenders.

Discussion

Juvenile Courts in the First Half of the 20th Century

The first half of the 20th century saw the juvenile courts flourishing. 32 states in the United States had formed juvenile courts by the year 1910. All the states followed suit except ...