Overview of the Juvenile Justice System

The power of justice requires fairly obeying the body of laws and constituted authority that shall be modeled wisely for conformity and the common good. Everyone is obliged to respect it because justice is meant to prevent harm or danger to others. It is viewed as a contract of extrication to cause prevention for endless criminals. Within the states, case processing regularly diverts from social values to community tenants based on local bounds of traditions and practices. The juvenile justice description ought to outline a series of decision points to comply with the system. The criminal justice system and prison administration are organized and separated in a number of ways. It tries to operate a maximum facility to separate youth from older prisoners. Mentally disordered offenders are disconnected from violent prisoners, inmates with physical disabilities, are also kept away from all the other prisoners, and most importantly, male and female criminals are parted away from any contact. Murderers are assigned to a solitary cell, and they are given no freedom or rights to outside society. Numerous prisons are overcrowded, and it is causing the struggling of segregation in such a manner that is not feasible. The criminals are primarily sorted by crime and threat assessment. The juvenile justice system tactics and strategies have different circumstances. These diverse measures will be set in multiple stages and the process elicits several alternative steps involving adjudication, disposition, intake, and detention. (3)

Male and female offenders can end up in the court system by way of preventive custody, truancy, and most often curfew time violations, breach ungovernability/incorrigibility, breaking underage liquor laws, and fleeing away from home. A youth may also be directed to the Juvenile Court System for their faulty records with school officials or being continuously disobedient and verbal/physical aggression towards their parents, guardians, or siblings. This policy is accompanied within probation aligning routines on a weekly basis. My research will break down the various complicated series, including the juvenile justice operations, and compare methods to the adult justice system. This would also include the difference setting features of juveniles to adult’s courts. The courts may withhold delinquents often and secure them in the detention facility. This is the choice of the judge, if the court believes that it is the best option for the child’s safety. The detention hearing is reported in a time frame specified by statute generally until twenty-four hours. Reviews of these juveniles’ status parallel that of delinquency disputes acts. The majority of the many legal disputes in the United States constitution are settled in state courts. The three main levels appeal ushers into first district courts, second circuit courts, and lastly the supreme court. (2)

America determines that a juvenile process falls within a specific age range between youth and adults, and is delegated to the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts to oversee. The keyword “juvenile” deals with a minor being imprisoned, which is defined as anyone who is under the age of eighteen, but in majority of states, the age gap is set up to sixteen. Juvenile delinquents are not sentenced as rigidly or harshly as an adult who had engaged in the same, unlawful crime. Once the investigation case is taken to trial, it is liable to the state laws and severity of the juvenile system. Regulation and fundamental principles regarding juvenile justice can differ between states, but many similarities are included. The court system also brings minors to justice for their terrible crimes. The youths who have been introduced to the courts as juvenile delinquents are on the wrong path and are labeled as offenders for their years in prison. This leads towards detachment and the need for rehabilitation of juveniles. (2)

The first stage of the approach is intake. This starts out with an officer who can object if the kid is released with a juvenile warning or quickly turn it around by arresting the kid and removing them to the District Attorney’s office while in custody. During this arrest, both systems for juveniles and adults have the rights to be appointed their Miranda warnings, rights to attorney-at-law, rights to be aware of the charges, proof beyond a reasonable doubt for an innocent or guilty verdict, and are adversarial, given a defense lawyer or a prosecutor who presents the case against the offender. Normally, status offenders will be held and handled at child welfare agencies and social service organization, whom are mentored by the juvenile corrections department. The time might be fluid until everything is established and delivered to the courts. At the crux of the intake stage, many factors are evaluated, and the perpetrator is ruled guilty or non-guilty of their actions for the juvenile court to be heard. This arrangement is the exact procedure that adults go through on their side of the criminal justice system when being prosecuted. The evidence is analyzed and certified in court case files. This is scanned to guarantee if the kid has had a previous history and ideological background with the law and if he/she dealt with any consequences that involved juvenile courts. However, after the examination and review of these many factors, the case is finalized. It may be dismissed, or depending on the situation; it will be held undecided in detention. (3)

The judge can rehear the case prior to court ruling until the case is fulfilled. The judge has the power to choose between two decisions whether the outcome is to detain the juvenile for another court meeting or to release her/him under the consideration of controlled supervision at home. If the case shifts into a bad and intense review, which generally happens, it can be taken into the detention hearing the day after the prosecutor filed a petition. The petition is mandatory for the case within forty-eight to seventy-two hours leaning on the suspect charges. The judge will respond and decide the formal detention of the juvenile with a continuous warranted restraint and whether or not it is justified. The moment he/she is indeed apprehended, they will be placed on the top of a list for a jurisdictional hearing. The stage of the jurisdictional hearing is extremely critical for the judge to review the petition of the allegations to evaluate whether the prosecutor was honest and truthful. Concerning the matter of jurisdiction, the court can waive the petition, which will transfer the case to criminal court. This hearing allows the minor to settle with denying the charges or do the opposite by entering a plea. The judge will hear the minor out, and it is at that time, the judge will answer back with the schedule for the date of the next hearing. On that date, there are three essential factors that are weighed with the dismissal and findings that are deemed to be authentic or imprecise within the petition when stated by the judge. The judge’s announcement can devise the future of the juvenile to be listed on a six-month informal probation as part of disposition, be under supervision probation, or he/she may be sent off to a detention facility, boot camp, counseling, reimbursement of the victim, live with relatives, foster care, or the highly secured Division of Juvenile Justice. The protocol for the Juvenile system process can be utterly lengthy. The time plots are difficult to get a fast access from the District Attorney’s office to actually file a petition and an extremely puzzling agenda to prove if the minor is either innocent or guilty. The court system sometimes loses time with so many drastic measures that occur all at once. Judges create their own strategy and guiding conduct in their courtrooms. The ruling enhances precedent, interpretation, and principle of laws. (5)

From the United States to other countries, there are tangled routines when it comes to the law being ignored. Juvenile and adults are immediately charged with the brutal crime they committed. The lawyers for the defense’s side or the prosecutor’s side have the right to cross examine the person and question the witness. To complete a case, the presiding judge and/or jury must perceive to listen to both sides’ arguments. The attorneys for the defense and prosecutor have significant roles in the case because both participate in the trial on the juvenile and adult criminal cases. The defendants are given the opportunity to be protected from self-incrimination. However, in the end, the judge and/or jury render an impartial result of agreement or decision based on reasonable, grounded, reliable evidence and precise facts, and to prove if the allegation is sufficient, the testimony presented are quite similar to both trials. The juveniles are accused of delinquent acts and adults are suspected of a heinous crime. This applies for the minors who are under the age of eighteen because they are not considered to be adults. The infraction of the minor is believed to be imputed to a lower serious nature of punishment and less formal in juvenile court for the defendant and plaintiff to proceed in their case easier. The juvenile court cases are not reserved to a jury within the public trial and instead are granted to a judge alone. Minors who are moved to an adult court are a relatively rare occurrence due to the controversial accusation given at a young age. Adult trials can also be included with an attempt to impose a penalty, so the perpetrator is unlikely to perform the same crime outside of the jail. (4)

The disposition plan and growth are developments and where the probation staff prepares for the investigation reports between the adjudication decisions. The intention for this plan is for the programs and support systems that are available to help the youth and assist these individuals’ recommendations in preparation of disposition; the court may present three orders: diagnostic tests, psychological evaluations, or a confinement at the facility for a diagnostic. This centers around the issue of whether they are amenable for treatment. Juvenile correction seeks to function as a deterrent and structure the youth to a desirable future. However, part of the goal is to deter minors from overstepping with the law and stopping them in a way that would not cause trouble to society. (1)

Probation and parole are often needed in a situation of bad behavior, but the juvenile court system brings attention to giving their absolute best to try to rehabilitate the minor on scandalous customs and actions. Justice systems all over the world create their own diversionary programs for these juveniles. Hundreds of these programs help prepare offenders with education for their future career and assure they will not participate in any vile actions because face to face with morality affects a person and denying it does not do anyone else good. Multiple components of these initiatives may include requirements such as performing community service, restitution to individuals who suffered and were harmed from delinquent demeanor, listen to a stern lecture, after school classes, and counseling. The system guidelines is designed to reduce crime enacted by minors and to set underage offenders on a path of happiness with the hope of aiming them towards a better life with friends and family. Delinquents go through a dwell of loss of love, respect, trust, and a sense of validation from caring parents. Both male and female juveniles need to view themselves as worthy, belonging, and being kept strong and healthy by positive role models. These specific needs implemented and enforced will eliminate both males and females to turn away from the life of delinquency and to close the line from their horrible past to prevent them from going anywhere near being situated into an adult prison or to the direction of a felon.

Work Cited

• “Difference Between Juvenile And Adult Justice Systems.” The Law Dictionary, thelawdictionary.org/article/difference-between-juvenile-and-adult-justice-systems/. Accessed 17 September 2019. 
• Firm, The Margarian Law, and About The Margarian Law Firm. “What Is the Difference Between Defense Lawyer and Public Prosecutor.” MargarianLaw, 22 June 2017, margarianlaw.com/defense-lawyer-public-prosecutor/. Accessed 17 September 2019.
• “Prison vs Jail.” Diffen, www.diffen.com/difference/Jail_vs_Prison. Acccessed 17 September 2019.
• “The Juvenile Court Case Process.” ImpactLaw, www.impactlaw.com/criminal-law/juvenile/cases. Accessed 17 September 2019.
• Tipton, Sarah. “Juvenile vs. Adult Criminal System.” LegalMatch Law Library, 28 May 2018, www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/juvenile-vs-adult-criminal-system.html. Accessed 17 September 2019.

• (The Law Dictionary)
• (MargarianLaw, 2018)
• (“Prison vs Jail.”)
• (ImpactLaw)
• (Tipton, 2018)