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An overview of the juvenile justice system
The juvenile justice system is made up of juvenile justice department and juvenile courts within the judicial system. These offices are tasked with the responsibilities of handling cases related to criminal offenses committed by children under the age of 18 years (McCord, Widom, Crowell, & National Research Council, 2001). More so, the juvenile justice system plays an integral role in the administration of justice for the juveniles. The major goal of the juvenile justice system is to help rehabilitate juveniles from criminal acts. In addition, the juvenile justice system helps in combating juvenile crime in the United States. The most common juvenile offenses include violent crimes, drug abuse and trafficking, and property crimes. The juvenile justice process begins with juvenile arrest, detention, case and dispositional hearing, as well as rehabilitation. The judges recommend child rehabilitation in schools and children’s protection departments (McCord, Widom, Crowell & National Research Council, 2001).
A point-by-point comparison between juvenile and adult courts
An adult is any person who has attained the majority age. On the other hand, a juvenile is a child below 18 years. Adults are liable for their actions. Therefore, adult courts are tasked with the responsibilities of handling adult cases (Cole, Smith & DeJong, 2013).
Similarities
In both courts, the defense and prosecution are involved in a legal tussle to defend their clients. In addition, the two courts allow the defendants to retain their counsel before and during interrogations and court proceedings. Furthermore, both courts protect and safeguard individual basic rights such as self-incrimination. It is also important to note that the juvenile and adult courts render judgments after evaluating the evidence presented before the court (Cole, Smith & DeJong, 2013; McCord, Widom, Crowell & National Research Council, 2001).
Differences
The juvenile courts focus majorly on the rehabilitation and treatment of the defendant. On the other hand, deterrence of the defendants is seen as the only successful result of punishing the adult offenders. The law allows preventive detention of the defendant in the juvenile justice system, whereas it provides for the application of a bond or bail in the criminal justice system (Hatcher, Bride, Oh, King, & Catrett, 2011). A juvenile defendant is judged on the basis of delinquency rather than guiltiness. On the other hand, adult courts find an individual either innocent or guilty as charged.
The juvenile courts largely follow psychological models in evaluating the juvenile past offenses. This helps to ascertain their needs. However, the adult courts depend on the legal frameworks for facts. Moreover, there are a number of limitations for the access to the juvenile records than the adult records. This is due to the belief that the offenders can be rehabilitated successfully. In addition, the court proceedings are highly confidential for privacy purposes in the juvenile justice system. In the adult courts, case proceedings and records are open to the public (Hatcher, Bride, Oh, King, & Catrett, 2011).
References
Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2013). The American system of criminal justice. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.
Hatcher, S. S., Bride, B. E., Oh, H., King, D. M., & Catrett, J. F. (2011). An assessment of secondary traumatic stress in juvenile justice education workers. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 17(3), 208-217.
McCord, J., Widom, C. S., Crowell, N. A., & National Research Council (U.S.). (2001). Juvenile crime, juvenile justice. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
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