From the Administrator
On the centennial anniversary of the creation of the juvenile court, it is fitting to commemorate its diverse and distinguished accomplishments. In earlier centuries, youth were tried in the same courts, sentenced to the same prisons, and, on occasion, condemned to the same gallows as adults. The juvenile court's recognition that the developmental differences between children and adults require distinctions in the way they are treated by the judicial system is worth honoring, as Judge J. Dean Lewis reminds us. The immediate past president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Judge Lewis speaks with authority about the many reasons to celebrate the centennial of "An Evolving Juvenile Court."
Although the juvenile court's fundamental focus remains on the individual youth who stands before it, we have come a long way since the Illinois legislature established the first children's court in Chicago in 1899 with jurisdiction over dependent, neglected, and delinquent youth. Prof. Robert Shepherd summarizes and comments on that progress in "A Look Back" at the juvenile court's impressive history.
That history, however, should serve as a prologue. As Judge Cindy Lederman perceptively observes, the juvenile court's 100th anniversary affords us an excellent opportunity not only to reflect on its historic accomplishments but to discuss how we can go about "Putting Research To Work for Prevention" and collaborate across disciplines to determine empirically "what works."
We have come a long way, but we still have a way to go. We must not retreat from the path of progress charted by those reform-minded pioneers 100 years ago. We will not abandon the individualized justice that lies at the heart of their legacy—or the youth whose future depends in large part on the wisdom and perspective of the juvenile court.
To help inaugurate the court's second century, OJJDP has launched its Juvenile Court Centennial Education Initiative, whose theme is "Delivering on the Promise of the Juvenile Court." By highlighting new insights and advances, the initiative will help to revitalize the court and restore public confidence in the work of the juvenile justice system.
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Shay Bilchik
Administrator
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention |
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