Juvenile Justice Vocabulary Juvenile delinquency n Special category

+ Juvenile Justice Vocabulary

+ Juvenile delinquency n. Special category of offense created for youths who, in most US jurisdictions are between the ages of 7 and 18.

+ Parens patriae n. Legal philosophy justifying state intervention in the lives of children when their parents are unable or unwilling to protect them.

+ Delinquent child n. A child who has engaged in activity that would be considered a crime if he were an adult. n. The term is used to avoid the stigma associated with the term “criminal”

+ Undisciplined child n. Child who is beyond parental control, as evidenced by his refusal to obey legitimate authorities, such as school officials and teachers.

+ Dependent child n. Child who has no parents or whose parents are unable to care for him.

+ Neglected child n. Child who is not receiving the proper level of physical or psychological care from his parents or guardians n. Or n. Who has been placed up for adoption in violation of the law

+ Abused child n. Child who has been physically, sexually, or mentally abused. n. Most states also consider a child who is forced into delinquent activity by a parent or guardian to be abused.

+ Status offense n. Act or conduct that is declared by statute to be an offense, but only when committed by a juvenile. n. These offenses can only be adjudicated by a juvenile court. n. Examples: buying cigarettes or alcohol, being truant

+ Houses of refuge n. The first specialized correctional institutions for youths in the US

+ Placing out n. Practice of placing children on farms in the Midwest and West to remove them from the supposedly corrupting influences of their parents and the cities.

+ Cottage reformatories n. Correctional facilities for youth, first developed in the late 1800 s, that were intended to closely parallel family life and remove children from the negative influences of the urban environment. n. Children lived with surrogate parents, who were responsible for the youths’ training and education.

+ Reform schools n. Correctional facilities, first developed in the late 1800 s, that focused on custody. n. Today, they are sometimes called training schools and place more emphasis on treatment – but they still rely on custody and control.

+ Petition n. Legal form of the police complaint that specifies the charges to be heard at the adjudication

+ adjudication n. Juvenile court equivalent of a trial in criminal court n. Or n. Process of rendering a judicial decision regarding the truth of the facts alleged in a petition

+ Radical nonintervention n. Practice based on the idea that youths should be left alone if at all possible, instead of being formally processed. n. Example: release police warn and

+ Intake screening n. Process by which decisions are made about the continued processing of juvenile cases. n. Decisions might include dismissing the case, referring the youth to a diversion program, or filing a petition.

+ Hearing officer n. Lawyer empowered by the juvenile court to hear juvenile cases

+ disposition n. Juvenile court equivalent of sentencing in criminal court. n. At disposition hearing, the court makes its final determination of what to do with the juvenile officially labeled delinquent.

+ Blended sentence n. Juvenile disposition that imposes both a juvenile sanction and an adult criminal sentence upon the delinquent. n. Adult sentence is suspended if the juvenile offender successfully completes the term of the juvenile disposition and refrains from committing any new offense.