Teen courts

Running Head : Teen Courts

Teen Courts

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Institution Name The delinquent child is dealt in a different way from the criminal : in the conduct involved the court and its methods employed the treatment philosophy , purposes , and methods applied and in the individual 's status , standing , and civil rights in the community after mediation (Snyder , 1995

The problem of characterization flows in part from the contrasting views of those who deal with the delinquent . Generally considered , two chief general types of approach might be observed : the judicial , or legal

view and the directorial , or casework , view . Conceptions of delinquency have been imitative largely from these views , and they in turn tend to reveal the two main phases of juvenile court work : the mediation of cases and their probation supervision (Snyder , 1995

In the legal approach to delinquency , it is customary to explain offenses and penalties in specific terms so as to protect the citizen from arbitrary or undue acts of police and judicial authority and , at the same time , to safe the community against those whose conduct has been shown in court to be dangerous

Lawyer and judge are tending to stress as a precondition of treatment through criminal courts the following needs (1 ) That some specific charges are suspected against the defendant (2 ) That it is defined in definite terms by law (3 ) That the offenses are proved rather decisively (4 ) That protection is given to the accused throughout trial against conviction by false , misleading , detrimental , irrelevant , or irrelevant evidence (Boesky , L .M . 2002

The liberal political philosophy of Anglo-American democracy has developed and refined these principles in response against the arbitrary , tyrannical extremes of political and administrative authoritarianism they have turns into firmly entrenched in the common law , constitutions , statutes , and institutional practices

Relative to the young delinquent , this tradition of juristic liberalism has made for a partially "legalistic " handling of the offender , an effort to distinguish as clearly as likely between delinquent and non-delinquent and to treat only the former with the sanctions of the state (Bard Ferrall , 2002

The offender might be looked upon by the state as one functioning with greater or less autonomy of will who has chosen to violate the law and who should be dealt with correctively to discourage him and others from further infractions . The full rigors of the criminal law are mitigated by reason of the offender 's youth , but the legal view would conserve in the hearings of children 's courts a real test of the individual 's status as a delinquent before relating to him the modern and individualized methods of treatment . The child is not a delinquent except the court has found him so

Within the past three decades , judicial decisions , legislative amendments , and administrative changes have altered the juvenile court from a supposedly rehabilitative social welfare agency into a scaled-down second-class criminal court for young people

Politicians and the public have disclaimed the court 's original rehabilitative premises and endorsed punishment of young offenders Judicial opinions...