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doi: 10.1177/001112877101700202pmid: N/A
The Gault decision and the report of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice havecalled attention to the longstanding failure of the juvenile courtto carry out its stated purpose and have initiated major changes.From a place where attorneys were unwelcome, where probationofficers tried to combine the roles of prosecutor and friendlyadvocate, where judges read probation and social study reportsbefore hearing any evidence—and sometimes sought to makeexamples of juveniles for publicity purposes—the juvenile courtis being transformed into a forum for a fair and impartial hearing. This article describes some of the changes that have takenplace and discussès the roles and responsibilities of those involvedin the juvenile court process.
Scarpitti, Frank R.; Stephenson, Richard M.
doi: 10.1177/001112877101700203pmid: N/A
This article discusses the decision-making process of juvenilecourt judges and, more specifically, the factors associated withjudicial decisions. Data were gathered over a three-year periodon 1,210 adjudicated delinquents and included social backgroundand delinquency history information, as well as scores on a standard personality inventory. The correctional facilities to whichboys were assigned represent a rough continuum ranging fromthe minimal supervision of probation to the full confinement ofa state reformatory. The general pattern of distribution is one inwhich the proportions of boys who are likely to be more disadvantaged, more delinquent, and more psychologically atypicalincrease from probation to the reformatory. To the extent thatthe programs are organized progressively to treat youths increasingly more delinquent or possessing characteristics usually associated with delinquency risk, the court appears to be making effective dispositions.
doi: 10.1177/001112877101700204pmid: N/A
This article discusses the relationship of child neglect and delinquency to poverty. A majority of neglect and delinquencycases can be attributed to economic stress. Yet the magnitude andnature of poverty in America are largely ignored by the social-work professions. Sociologically research has, for the most part,treated poverty as a dependent variable or a secondary influenceon family social functioning. What is required, however, is totreat it as an independent variable or determinant factor. Thefailure to do so has created an educational vacuum on the subjectof poverty in most social-work schools and in public agenciesserving the poor.
doi: 10.1177/001112877101700205pmid: N/A
The Gault decision has provoked extended discussion and debate because of its revolutionary impact on juvenile justice.Every facet of the juvenile justice system, from police to institutions, has been affected. This paper discusses the application ofthe decision to the pre-adjudication stage of the juvenile courtproceeding. It shows how one court has made practical adjustments at this stage and has found the guidelines established byGault to be reasonable and workable.
doi: 10.1177/001112877101700206pmid: N/A
The decision to confine a child in a juvenile hall is one ofgreat responsibility. It requires that the law, the necessity for detention, the protection of both the child and the community, andthe ultimate effect of detention on the child himself all be considered. Who makes such a decision, and how is it made?
doi: 10.1177/001112877101700207pmid: N/A
This study shows that the juvenile court hearing has a significant impact on the child involved (particularly if it is his first hearing), rendering at least some children more capable of change during this phase in the delinquency pattern than duringany later phase. This change capability seems to decrease markedlywith the passage of time. It is suggested that if the changecapability is not utilized the child's delinquent tendencies may bestrengthened, rendering him less capable of change after thehearing than he was before it. Fear was the dominant emotionexperienced by the children both before and during the hearing.The children felt most hostile toward the police and least hostiletoward the judge, probably because (1) the children come to thehearing with a more negative stereotype of police than of the judge,(2) the police are more directly involved in uncovering the offensethan is the judge, and (3) the judge is less directly accessible tothe children and their parents, giving his role a greater aura ofmystery than that of the police. Finally, it was found that duringthe interviews most children experienced difficulty in usingabstractions, suggesting that delinquent children may learn todeal with abstractions at a later age (if at all) than non-delinquent children.
Brennan, William C.; Khinduka, Shanti K.
doi: 10.1177/001112877101700208pmid: N/A
On the basis of data collected through a questionnaire froma sample of social workers and lawyers in a midwestern state,this study identifies the areas and extent of congruity and incongruity between the mutual expectations and perceptions ofthe two professions.
Tait, C. Downing; Hodges, Emory F.
doi: 10.1177/001112877101700209pmid: N/A
This study began with 179 elementary school children in 1954and followed 151 of them to the end of the juvenile jurisdictionperiod. It succeeded for about three out of four cases in predicting which boys would become known to juvenile court on adelinquency complaint by age seventeen.. These results were surprisingly similar to those of the original retrospective study bythe Gluecks, who devised the main prediction instrument. Predictions on a small sample of nondelinquents were not as accurate as those reported by the Gluecks, but no generalizationsare offered because of the sample's smallness.
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