Childhood and Delinquency

The Adolescent Dilemma

What Does This Mean to Me?

Older But Wiser

Ego identity

Role diffusion

Youth in Crisis

At-risk youths

Is There Reason for Hope?

Focus on Preventing and Treating Delinquency

Teen Risk Taking

The Study of Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency

Chronic juvenile offenders

Juvenile Justice System

The Development of Childhood

Paternalistic Family

Custom and Practice in the Middle Ages

Child Rearing and Discipline

The Development of Concern for Children

Changes in Family Structure

Poor Laws

The Apprenticeship Movement

Chancery Court

parens patriae

Childhood in America

Controlling Children

Checkpoints

The problems of American Youth have become a national concern and an important subject of academic study.

There are more than seventy million youths in the United States, and the number is expected to rise.

American youth are under a great deal of stress. They face poverty, family problems, urban decay, inadequate education, teen pregnancy and social conflict.

The concept of a separate status of childhood has developed slowly over the centuries.

Early family life was controlled by parents. Punishment was severe and children were expected to take on an adult role early in their lives.

With the start of the seventeenth century came greater recognition of the needs of children. In Great Britain the chancery movement, the Poor Laws, and the apprenticeship programs greatly affected the lives of children.

In colonial America, many of the characteristic’s of English family living were adopted.

In the nineteenth century, neglected, delinquent, and dependent or runaway children were treated no differently than criminal defendants. Children were often charged and convicted of crimes.

The Concept of Delinquency

Child Savers

Delinquency and Parens Patriae

The designation delinquent

Best interests of the child

The Legal Status of Delinquency

Tried vs. adjudicated

Punished vs. treated

Legal Responsibility of Youths

Need for treatment

Status Offenders

Waiver

Status offense

Wayward minors

The Status Offender in the Juvenile Justice System

Aiding the Status Offender

Office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention

Reforming Status Offense Laws

Focus on Preventing and Treating Delinquency: Social Control over Juveniles and Their Parents

Checkpoints

The concept of delinquency was developed in the early twentieth century. Before that, criminal youths and adults were treated in almost the same fashion.

A group of reformers, referred to as child savers, helped create a separate delinquency category to insulate juvenile offenders from the influence of adult criminals.

The separate status of juvenile offenders is based on the parens patriae philosophy which holds that children have the right to care and custody and that, if parents are not capable of providing that care, the state must step in to take control.

Delinquents are given greater legal protection than adult criminals and are shielded from stigma and labels.

More serious juveniles cases may be transferred or waived to the adult court.

Juvenile courts also have jurisdiction over non-criminal status offenders. Status offenses are illegal only because of the minority status of the offender. They include such misbehavior as truancy, running away, and sexual misconduct.

Some experts believe that juvenile offenders are harmed by juvenile court processing. Other efforts indicate that status offenders and delinquent are actually quite similar.