Juvenile Court System Research Articles

Testing models of justice and trust: A study of mediation in child dependency disputes

This study randomly assigned 200 parents to mediation (facilitated by master's-level social workers) or to pretrial conferences (guided by judges) to examine the effects of the dispute resolution methods on the attitudes of parents in child dependency disputes. The study also examined theories from the psychology of justice and trust literature for predicting the attitudes of the parents regarding their dissatisfaction with the juvenile court system, the unfairness of the third parties (that is, social work mediators or judges), and the degree of achieved in the cases. Parents assigned to mediation perceived higher degree of in the case. But no differences in dispute method effects were observed for other dependent measures in either mediation or pretrial conferences. Justice variables were more salient than trust variables in predicting the unfairness of the third parties and the degree of achieved, but not in predicting dissatisfaction with the juvenile court system. Implications of these findings for social work research and policy practice are discussed. Key words: child dependency; conflict management; mediation; procedural justice; trust ********** Mediation is used in number of areas of interpersonal conflict (Kressel, 1985; Kressel & Pruitt, 1989), including child custody disputes (Emery, Matthews, & Wyer, 1991), divorce (Beck & Sales, 2001), and child dependency matters (Baron, 1997; Firestone, 1997; McNeilly, 1997; Thoennes, 1997a). The fundamental aim of the state in dependency cases is to protect children by removing them from their home until their parents demonstrate that they are ready to care for and control them. When child is placed outside the home, the social service agency and the parent must agree on service plan to effect the child's return (Azar & Benjet, 1994; p. 254). Service plans include the responsibilities and duties of parents regarding interventions, child visitation, progress with treatment, and evidence of cooperation with service providers. They also specify the state's responsibilities in providing services to the parents. Failure of parents to comply with these plans usually results in the termination of parental fights (Jellinek et al., 1992). It is not surprising that because of the significant intrusion these plans have on parental authority, disputes often occur between parents and child protection professionals about the terms of the agreements. Some proponents of mediation in child dependency hearings have argued that it can increase parental satisfaction with the legal process and its outcomes (McNeilly, 1997). Satisfaction is important because it helps achieve voluntary compliance with court rules and regulations (Tyler, 1990, 1998). It has been argued that mediation can cause this effect because it relies on consensus model of governance (Levi, 1998; Tyler, 1998). That is, consensus approaches to dispute resolution presumably promote agreements between parties that they want to accept, irrespective of the dictates of established authorities (Tyler, 1998, p. 278). Mediation is defined as a task oriented, time limited, alternative dispute resolution process (an alternative to litigation) wherein the parties, with the assistance of neutral person or persons, isolate disputed issues in order to consider options and alternatives to reach consensual settlement (Beck & Sales, 2001, p. 3). Advocates of mediation assume that mediation also can improve relationships between the parties (D. G. Brown, 1982; E. M. Brown, 1988; Camplair & Stolberg, 1990; Pearson, 1994; Pearson & Thoennes, 1985a, 1985b, 1988). If parties have better relationships, then presumably they are more likely to comply with mutually agreed on plans (Tyler, 1998). However, critics of the use of mediation in dependency matters have expressed concern that there are few negotiable items in these disputes (McNeilly, 1997; Thoennes, 1997a). …

Identifying Juvenile Crime Suspects: A Survey of Ohio TV Stations, Newspapers

For much of the 20th century, journalists protected the identities of juvenile crime suspects with a traditional sense of paternalism that shielded young offenders from the harsh glare of negative publicity. Newspapers followed the lead of the juvenile court system that generally kept its proceedings confidential-a practice that dates to the late 189Os when the system was conceived as a mechanism for rehabilitating young people who had run afoul of the law.From 1977 to 2003, a string of shootings at public schools across the U.S. thrust the subject of violent juvenile crime into the national consciousness, and with it, called in question the practice of shielding juveniles' identities. The most deadly shooting occurred when 15 students, including the two alleged gunmen, were killed at Columbine High School in Littleton, CoIo. Littleton heads the list of cities that have suffered deadly school violence: Jonesboro, Ark.; Springfield, Ore.; Paducah, Ky.; Edinboro, Pa.; Pearl, Miss.; Miami, FIa.; Santee, Calif.; New Orleans, La. and Red Lion, Pa.These stories raise an interesting dilemma for journalists: should the names of the accused be publicized? Two of the shootings illustrate the point. In the New Orleans case, a teenaged boy was killed and four girls were wounded at a suburban high school in a dispute over drugs in the spring of 2003. The three alleged gunmen, two 17-year-olds and an 18-year old, were all identified in the news reports about the crime.1 Less than a month later, a high school student killed a teacher and then himself in Red Lion, Pa. In news reports of that shooting, the teen gunman was not identified.2 Why is the gunman identified in one story but not the other? Ironically, these high profile cases often mask the journalist's dilemma. It's easy for an individual newspaper to print a child's name when it has already been reported widely as part of a nationwide blitz of news coverage. In such cases, the consequences of one additional story are usually minimal. The journalist's decision is more difficult when the crime takes place in the newspaper or television station's hometown when the impact of the story can be felt immediately.The number of juvenile crimes reported in the United States decreased more than 30 percent from 1992 to 2001. The number of juvenile males who were arrested dropped 37.7 percent during the same period.3 In 1996, midway through that reporting period, the number of violent crimes committed by all ages was the lowest since the federal government began tracking crime statistics 25 years ago.4 The decline masks a significant increase in violent juvenile crime that began in 1985. The number of murders committed byjuveniles doubled between 1980 and 1993, and the murder rate climbed 165 percent among youths between the ages of 14 and 17.5The specific criteria for identifying juvenile suspects in news stories have not been examined in the academic literature to any great degree. Codes of ethics admonish journalists to treat persons with respect and minimize harm.6 Newsroom policies are often unclear as to whether juvenile suspects should be named. Many editors and news directors appear to treat the issue on a case -by-case basis.Literature ReviewThe modern juvenile court system began in Illinois in 1899. Prior to that year, offenders over the age of seven were tried in adult courts and housed in adult jails. Reform-minded progressives envisioned a system patterned after the family courts of the time that would focus on rehabilitating youthful offenders instead of punishing them.7 The proceedings were designed to be non-adversarial, and hearings would be covered in secret to ...hide youthful errors from the full gaze of the public.8 By the 1960s, the public attitudes regarding juvenile crime had begun to change amid a growing frustration over the seriousness of the juvenile offenses being committed. Consequently, more juvenile delinquents were transferred to adult courts, harsher sentences were given to those juveniles convicted of serious crimes and juvenile court proceedings were less likely to be kept confidential. …

Response to the Presidential Address

Response to the Presidential Address

Reducing Juvenile Recidivism: Evaluating the Wraparound Services Model

Objective: The purpose of this study was to (a) evaluate the relative effectiveness of wraparound services versus conventional services for juvenile delinquent youth and (b) create a predictive model that would assist the juvenile court system in correctly identifying youth at greatest risk of reoffending. Method: The study employed a pretest/posttest, control group design, with 6-, 12-, and 18-month follow-up assessments, of 141 youth court-ordered into community-based treatment programs for delinquent youth. Results: Analysis indicated that few of the variables studied differentiated between wraparound services recipients and conventional service recipients. However, a logistic regression model was developed that correctly predicted recidivism for 79% of the sample at the 6-month follow-up assessment (chi-square = 27.211, df =6, p = .0001) and 78% of the sample at the 18-month follow-up assessment (chi-square = 16.453, df =8, p = .036). Conclusions: Implications of the findings for improving community-based juvenile diversion programs for delinquent youth were explored and discussed.

Predicting Attrition to Prevent Service Gaps in Serving Juvenile Offenders

Objective: The purpose of this study was to: (a) investigate differences in demographic variables, previous delinquent/criminal behavior variables, family system variables, juvenile court system variables, and subsequent delinquent behavior variables between youth who received services and those who did not among court-involved juvenile delinquent youth; and (b) create a predictive model that would correctly identify youth at the greatest risk of not receiving services. Method: The study employed an analysis of 244 youth, 182 (75%) service recipients and 62 (25%) non-recipients, randomly selected from a larger pool of 500 juvenile court-involved youth. Results: Analysis indicated that very few of the demographic variables, delinquent/criminal behavior variables, family system variables, and juvenile court system variables differentiated between service recipients and non-recipients. However, a logistic regression model was developed that correctly predicted service receipt for 78% of the sample, which represented a 52.4% improvement over chance. Conclusion: Implications of the findings for identifying court-involved youth at risk of receiving no services were explored and discussed.

Goin: APA Will Continue Fight for MH System Reform

Goin: APA Will Continue Fight for MH System Reform

Juvenile Delinquency: Causes and Control

Juvenile Delinquency: Causes and Control

Victoria Getis, The Juvenile Court and the Progressives, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000. Pp. x + 216. $34.95 (ISBN 0–252–02572–5).

The author traces the many failings of today's juvenile court system directly to the progressive reformers in Chicago who instituted the system in the belief that the state and science could "fix" the problems of troubled and youthful lawbreakers.

Rehearsing Citizenship: The Governing of Juvenile Delinquency in Colonial Malaya

This article traces the sudden problematisation and governing of juvenile delinquency in British colonial Malaya in the decade preceding independence in 1957 whereby a juvenile court system, a network of institutions for delinquents, and a series of training and disciplinary practices were set up to rehabilitate the delinquent in order to turn him into a responsible citizen. Drawing on the analytics of disciplinary and ethical practices conducted by Michel Foucault, it is argued that the governing of juvenile delinquency in colonial Malaya may be seen as a fundamental element of a wider assemblage of normalising techniques seeking to recast subjectivity from that of immature individuals into active and responsible self-governing ones, and that these techniques were highly dividing in that they produced not only what is taken to be good citizens but also delinquents. It is shown that Malaysian independence, far from leading to a break with these power-laden practices of citizenship, instead leads to their further development, dispersal and institutionalisation.

Clinical assessment of children in child protection cases: An empirical analysis.

Evaluations of children exposed to abuse or neglect are often sought from psychologists and other clinicians. Social service and juvenile court professionals need reliable, objective, and relevant assessments to help in their determination of what will best serve the needs of the minor children in such situations. The adequacy and usefulness of these types of evaluations have not been studied, but such study is needed. To that end, we systematically examined the content of 207 completed evaluations of children involved in one urban juvenile court system. The results show us some areas where changes in practice and training are needed.

Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice Efforts in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

On November 17, 1995, the governor of Pennsylvania signed into law Special Session Act 33 of 1995, which redefined the purpose of Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system to incorporate the principles of the Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice (BARJ) philosophy. This article describes the genesis of the new law, explains the BARJ model, and illustrates the effect that the law is having on the juvenile court system in Allegheny County. The article specifically focuses on the numerous projects that the Allegheny County juvenile probation department has instituted to meet the BARJ obligation.

An Evaluation of Teen Court as a Juvenile Crime Diversion Program

ABSTRACTTheories of procedural justice support the American legal system's search for a fair and effective means of diverting offenders from the juvenile court system. Teen Court programs, in which juvenile offenders are tried and sentenced by a jury of peers, are one of the latest developments in attempts to positively influence offenders and direct them free of crime. The present research found that participation in Teen Court increased offenders' legal knowledge and enhanced their attitudes toward some authority figures (i.e., the judge) and themselves to a greater extent than non‐offending juveniles. In addition, only 12.6 percent of juvenile offenders re‐offended within five months of their initial Teen Court involvement. Improved attitudes toward authority and self were associated with a lower incidence of recidivism. Overall, these results contribute to the growing literature indicating that Teen Court can be an effective juvenile crime diversion program. This article also discusses methodological issues for future program evaluations.

Building a Better Youth Court

Youth courts are an innovative quasi‐legal forum in which adolescents pass judgment on their peers in cases involving relatively minor offenses. These courts hold much promise to benefit offending youth, the youthful volunteers who participate in the adjudicative process, the traditional juvenile court system, victims, and surrounding communities. Based on a survey completed of the forty‐two youth courts operating in New York State, this article describes the diverse and overlapping objectives, target populations, and operating procedures of the youth tribunals. It discusses the interrelated nature of youth court goals, subjects, and procedures, and offers general prescriptions for the more effective design and operation of youth courts.

The Juvenile Counseling and Assessment Model and Program: A Conceptualization and Intervention for Juvenile Delinquency

This article presents a model of conceptualization and intervention for juvenile delinquency. The model includes the characteristics of the adolescent, the ecological context in which the adolescent lives, and the interaction among these variables. Intervention addressing these variables is presented. A specific integrated service, training, and research project that is based on the model is described. The Juvenile Counseling and Assessment Program is a collaborative approach, joining university counseling faculty, educators, graduate students, and juvenile court system personnel in the mutual goals of reducing delinquency and increasing adaptive skills.

The juvenile court and the Progressives

Today's troubled juvenile court system has its roots in Progressive-era Chicago, a city one observer described as first in violence and deepest in dirt. Examining the vision and methods of the original proponents of the Cook County Juvenile Court, Victoria Getis uncovers the court's intrinsic flaws as well as the sources of its debilitation in our own time. Spearheaded by a group of Chicago women, including Jane Addams, Lucy Flower, and Julia Lathrop, the juvenile court bill was pushed through the legislature by an eclectic coalition of progressive reformers, both women and men. Like many progressive institutions, the court reflected an unswerving faith in the wisdom of the state and in the ability of science to resolve the problems brought on by industrial capitalism. A hybrid institution combining legal and social welfare functions, the court was not intended to punish youthful lawbreakers but rather to provide guardianship for the vulnerable. In this role, the state was permitted great latitude to intervene in families where it detected a lack of adequate care for children. The court also became a living laboratory, as children in the court became the subjects of research by criminologists, statisticians, educators, state officials, economists, and, above all, practitioners of the new disciplines of sociology and psychology. The Chicago reformers had worked for large-scale social change, but the means they adopted eventually gave rise to the social sciences, where objectivity was prized above concrete solutions to social problems, and to professional groups that abandoned goals of structural reform. The Juvenile Court and the Progressives argues persuasively that the current impotence of the juvenile court system stems from contradictions that lie at the very heart of progressivism.

Clinical assessment of parents in child protection cases: an empirical analysis.

We investigated the content and legal relevance of clinical evaluations of parents conducted in child abuse and neglect cases. The sample consisted of 190 mental health evaluation reports, randomly selected from major providers, that had been completed on parents involved in a large, urban juvenile court system. We coded evaluations on 170 objective and qualitative characteristics in order to assess for criteria recommended in the forensic literature. We compared evaluations across groups categorized by type (e.g., psychological, psychiatric, bonding/parenting, substance abuse) and where the assessments were performed (outside or inside the court). We found numerous substantive failures to meet those criteria for forensic relevance. Evaluations of parents typically were completed in a single session, rarely included a home visit, used few if any sources of information other than the parent, often cited no previous written reports, rarely used behavioral methods, stated purposes in general rather than specific terms, emphasized weaknesses over strengths in reporting results, and often neglected to describe the parent's caregiving qualities or the child's relationship with the parent. Some relevant differences were evident across assessment groups, pointing to examples of more thorough, parenting-specific evaluation practices. We recommend ways to improve current practices in forensic parenting assessment.

The Use of Citizen Review Boards with Juvenile Offender Cases: An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Pilot Program

ABSTRACTThis study evaluates a Citizen Review Board (CRB) program designed to review juvenile offender cases. The sample includes 157 juvenile offenders that were first‐time adjudicated offenders. The youth were randomly assigned by the juvenile judge either to receive review by the CRB or go through the regular court process. Sixty‐eight of the youth were reviewed by the CRB and 89 made up the control group. Data were collected on both groups for more than three years. Program outcomes examined for the study included court processing time, placement and treatment facility changes, and re‐offense rates.Findings suggest that the youth served by the CRB program had statistically fewer out‐of‐home placements in treatment programs during the course of the study and more time had elapsed between the date of the original offense and the re‐offense for youth reviewed by the CRB. The rise in the number of juvenile offenders going through the nation's court systems, as well as a rise in the number of citizen review boards, indicate a need for further examination about how CRBs can best serve the juvenile court system and the youth served by that system.

Juvenile Court System As It Enters The 21st Century: What Should It Look Like?

Juvenile Court System As It Enters The 21st Century: What Should It Look Like?

Myopic Justice? The Juvenile Court and Child Welfare Systems

Myopic Justice? The Juvenile Court and Child Welfare Systems

Myopic Justice? The Juvenile Court and Child Welfare Systems

The two major institutions set up to assist at-risk youths—the juvenile court and the child welfare system—have failed at their common historical mission to treat, supervise, rehabilitate, protect, and care for youths. Institutional survival has almost always taken precedence over this core mission. The result has been the unintended but not unexpected victimization of their vulnerable, often already victimized young clientele. There are profound political, social, and institutional forces intense balance surrounding the two systems. Some of these forces keep the two institutions from coming apart and crumbling. Others keep them from pursuing the basic required changes that would presage meaningful institutional reform and, perhaps, revival. Despite these obstacles to change, there are still possibilities for embarking upon a politically and socially sound process of change. This process might enable the juvenile court and the child welfare system to better fulfill their mission.