Juvenile Court System Essay

Traditional Juvenile Court System Juvenile court system started in 1899, and was created by four women who thought that children deserved a second chance instead of getting punished. The first city to have a juvenile court system was Chicago, Illinois. Today, they are found in Europe, Latin America, Israel, Iraq, Japan, and other countries. Most countries have similar systems with similar punishments. However, there have been many problems with this system. In 1967, there were a few disagreements that led to changes that made juvenile courts more like criminal courts which happened in the 1980’s. Parens patriae are also very important to the juvenile court system. Parens patriae are people of the government, or authority, who become the legal guardian of the troubled child. Most of the children who are sent to juvenile court usually have influences from their parents. For example, some children have parents who are alcoholics, drug addicts, rapists, and criminals. Another reason a child might purposely want to go to juvenile court would be to receive
Demographics are certain groups of a population. Between 1967 and 1996, the rate of juvenile cases greatly increased. Most cases took place in the demographic of the children who were 15-17. There was a total of approximately 340 cases in that demographic. Most of the cases are carried to juvenile court because of 17 year olds. This is because they think they know what is going on in the world and they want to change the world. If a case is not carried on to the juvenile court, then there is also a court called the teen court. The teen court is open to children under the age of eighteen. Teen courts started back in the 1960’s, but no one really knew about them until the 1990’s. Teen courts are not as formal as juvenile courts. These two courts are very similar, but there are fewer adults involved in the teen court