Juvenile Justice Period

Throughout history the American juvenile justice system has changed focus in attempts to provide an efficient system. Additionally, these changes have influenced the concept of punishment by replacing it with different methods such as rehabilitation. According to the text, American Corrections by Todd R. Clear, George F. Cole, and Michael D. Reisig, the juvenile justice system is characterized by five time periods. The first time period is referred to as the Puritan Period. Between 1646 and 1824, misbehaved children who didn’t obey their parents would be considered evil and have to deal with the law. During the Refuge Period between 1824 and 1899, institutes were created to provide good work, study habits, and discipline to children. These
During this time, the first juvenile court was established. According to the text, “decisions about the juvenile’s fate were linked less to guilt or innocence and more to the ‘best interests’ of the child” (Clear, Cole and Reisig, 2011, p.474). The court was mostly based on informality, individualization, and intervention. In all this informal method was found to be ineffective because laws were imposed in ways that did not interest the children. Additionally, the Juvenile Right Period between 1960 and 1980, a rally took place which convinced the United States Supreme Court to provide most of the due process rights to juveniles which also applied to adults. The Crime Control Period began in 1980 and is currently present. In theory, “the justice system treats juveniles differently from adults by placing less emphasis on punishment and individualized treatment” (Clear, Cole and Reisig, 2011, p.476). The idea is that juveniles are different from adults. On the other hand, the controversial issue regarding juvenile justice comes from the reality that many states have changed the focus of the juvenile justice system from rehabilitation to punishment and
It is arguable that the facility of prisons might in fact expose prisoners to extreme factors they may have not seen outside of the prisons, such as extreme violence, certain drugs, and gangs. In all, this doesn’t seem like an efficient method to provide guidance for prisoners. Instead of being rehabilitated, they are exposed to all the extreme factors at once. Not only that, they seem to learn to become viler in the outer world because in prison they learn to be more cautious of their surroundings. Moreover, what I am trying to say is that most juveniles that commit extreme crimes, who are not exposed to drugs, and violence before hand of their crime, would probably not be well off in adult