Juvenile and Adult Courts

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Juvenile and Adult Courts: A Comparative Analysis CJA-374 Abstract There are many similarities of which the juvenile justice system and the adult criminal justice system share. As a matter of fact, there was a time at which both systems were combined and all offenders were tried through the same court and served his or her sentence within the same facilities. The reason for change was essential primarily because the separation allowed youth to benefit from tools at which adult court systems did not provide. In current time, similarities are still shared between these two justice systems but there is a separation in age that limits juveniles from drastic punishment. Furthermore, the processes and procedures are fairly different from one another. Juvenile and Adult Courts: A Comparative Analysis Overview of the Juvenile System The juvenile justice system includes a wide-ranging array of networks and integrated services designed to serve the youths that enter the system (Champion, 2003). Even as the age limits are defined by the federal statues and typically include juvenile offenders 7-18 years of age, states determine the systems of adjudication, juvenile diversion, intervention and prevention programs and the conditions thereof (Champion, 2003; DJJ, 2012). Since many of these diversion, intervention and secondary prevention programs and services and the chances to participate in these programs rely upon law enforcement discretionary powers, the agreement of the state attorney, court officials, juvenile probation officers and/or other representative, as well as the type of charge, of the juveniles in question must agree to the terms or enter the adjudication process (DJJ, 2012). While the latter is undesirable for most institutions and entities due to statutory regulations determining which types of labor youth offenders can perform

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