The Fork in the Road to Juvenile Court Reform

Abstract

Juvenile justice reform efforts seeking a more criminalized juvenile court and justice system, as well as those aimed at revitalizing the individual treatment mission, have been one-dimensional in their failure to address the multiple justice needs of communities associated with youth crime, and they have been insular in their singular focus on the needs and risks of offenders. In the late 1990s, a growing number of juvenile justice professionals began to embrace a third, more holistic vision for reform based on a normative concern with repairing the harm caused by crime to individuals and relationships and a commitment to victims, communities, and offenders as primary stakeholders in the justice process. This article considers the implications of emerging practice based on a restorative community justice model for systemic reform in the context, content, and structure of juvenile justice and the response to youth crime.