Historical Contex
‘Fabric does not become stronger by pulling out the thread’ as quoted by Elena Quintana, Ph.D executive director of the Institute on Public Safety and Social Justice at the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago, Barrera-Gonzalez, L. (2014, April 17). Email interview.
Through out history there have been reforms in the U.S juvenile system, in that have lead to a system in which we “ruin families, weaken communities, and destroy futures of young people and their children.” Barrera-Gonzalez, L. (2014, April 17). Email interview. According to a Frontline article the first juvenile court in the United states was built in Cook County, Illinois in the year 1899. It was not until 1925 when 48 other states decided to join in the bandwagon and instituted their juvenile court system, (“Child or Adult? A century Long View”, 2001).
“In the early 1970s, several class-action lawsuits attacked the conditions and policies of the juvenile institutions, alleging cruel and unusual punishment. Social critics advocated deinstitutionalization and argued for more preventative and community-based programs to assail the roots of juvenile delinquency, particularly in urban areas. In 1974, Congress passed the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, which still governs the juvenile justice system today. The act required the separation of juvenile offenders from adult offenders, and the deinstitutionalization of status offenders. A 1980 amendment mandated that juveniles could not be placed in adult jails, with a few exceptions. The 1974 act also created the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and offered grants to encourage states to develop community-based programs as alternatives to institutionalization.” (“Child or Adult? A century Long View”, 2001).
“In the late 1980s the public perceived that juvenile crime was on the rise and that the system was too lenient… In the 1990s this tough on crime trend accelerated. Tougher laws made it easier to transfer youth offenders to the criminal justice system.” (“Juvenile Justice History”, April 30, 2014). They made it easier for youth to be tried as adults but, according to Attorney Mark Almanza who has worked with youth in adult court “its frustrating in that we have a system that allows us to prosecute juveniles as adults when they have no idea of what is going on. That’s just the consequence of your action, because the frontal lobe is not fully developed until late twenties, people aren't mature enough to understand consequence of their actions, control their impulsivity until their frontal lobe is fully developed which is until their twenties; but even aside from that they don’t understand what’s going on in court, they don’t understand what a felony conviction is, they don’t understand they will never get a job, and they are not even in high school” Barrera-Gonzalez, L. (2014, April 25).
Through out history there have been reforms in the U.S juvenile system, in that have lead to a system in which we “ruin families, weaken communities, and destroy futures of young people and their children.” Barrera-Gonzalez, L. (2014, April 17). Email interview. According to a Frontline article the first juvenile court in the United states was built in Cook County, Illinois in the year 1899. It was not until 1925 when 48 other states decided to join in the bandwagon and instituted their juvenile court system, (“Child or Adult? A century Long View”, 2001).
“In the early 1970s, several class-action lawsuits attacked the conditions and policies of the juvenile institutions, alleging cruel and unusual punishment. Social critics advocated deinstitutionalization and argued for more preventative and community-based programs to assail the roots of juvenile delinquency, particularly in urban areas. In 1974, Congress passed the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, which still governs the juvenile justice system today. The act required the separation of juvenile offenders from adult offenders, and the deinstitutionalization of status offenders. A 1980 amendment mandated that juveniles could not be placed in adult jails, with a few exceptions. The 1974 act also created the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and offered grants to encourage states to develop community-based programs as alternatives to institutionalization.” (“Child or Adult? A century Long View”, 2001).
“In the late 1980s the public perceived that juvenile crime was on the rise and that the system was too lenient… In the 1990s this tough on crime trend accelerated. Tougher laws made it easier to transfer youth offenders to the criminal justice system.” (“Juvenile Justice History”, April 30, 2014). They made it easier for youth to be tried as adults but, according to Attorney Mark Almanza who has worked with youth in adult court “its frustrating in that we have a system that allows us to prosecute juveniles as adults when they have no idea of what is going on. That’s just the consequence of your action, because the frontal lobe is not fully developed until late twenties, people aren't mature enough to understand consequence of their actions, control their impulsivity until their frontal lobe is fully developed which is until their twenties; but even aside from that they don’t understand what’s going on in court, they don’t understand what a felony conviction is, they don’t understand they will never get a job, and they are not even in high school” Barrera-Gonzalez, L. (2014, April 25).