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Juvenile Court

NCJ Number
165385
Journal
Future of Children Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (Winter 1996) Pages: 1-160
Editor(s)
C S Stevenson, C S Larson
Date Published
1996
Length
160 pages
Annotation
Twelve articles on the juvenile court include an analysis and recommendations and address the early history of the court, the nature of the court, delinquency cases, the court's effectiveness in guaranteeing juveniles' due process rights, status offenses, dependency cases, promising new directions, and the future of the juvenile court.
Abstract
The first article provides an analysis of the role of the juvenile court and the challenges it faces in its jurisdiction over delinquency, status-offense, and child-abuse-and-neglect cases and offers recommendations for current practice and future directions. The second article discusses the key trends in the early history of the juvenile court from the early 19th century precursors of the court to the 1930's. This is followed by an article that describes the current "landscape" of the juvenile court and the variations in the court from State to State. Another article reviews the demographics of delinquency cases and describes how the court processes these cases. There is also an analysis of the procedural rights of juveniles who come before the juvenile court in delinquency cases and the impact of court practice on these rights. Included as well is an analysis of the effectiveness of the wide range of dispositions available to the juvenile court in delinquency cases. Another article summarizes the available data on the status offender population and analyzes Federal and State laws, juvenile court practice, and current public policy issues regarding status offenses. A review of the available data on child abuse and neglect reports and the response by the juvenile court and child welfare agencies is followed by an analysis of the effectiveness of the juvenile court in handling its expanded role in child abuse and neglect cases. Next, an article describes the changing role of the juvenile court from the perspective of an urban juvenile court judge, followed by an article that discusses the emerging trends in juvenile court practice that hold promise for the future. The concluding article profiles an alternative model that allows the juvenile court to use its power to hold public and private caretakers more accountable for children's behavior.