20th Century Juvenile Legislation

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20TH Century Juvenile Legislation Juveile Deliquency and Justice July 22nd, 2012 From the begging, the Juvenile Justice System has been a cycle of figuring out how to deal with juveniles who commit crime. The due process model of juvenile justice ran from the 1960’s to the 1980’s. It was a changing movement that turned the belief that a child was not a piece of property- neither the parent nor the states property. With this due process movement, a child was known as a person with rights and protections other than just the right to be saved. (Taylor&Fritsch, 2011). The Punitive Model of Juvenile Justice came into play after the due process model. In 1968 Congress passed the Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Control Act. The act was designed to encourage states to develop plans and programs that would work on a community level to discourage juvenile delinquency. The programs, once drafted and approved, would receive federal funding. The Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Control Act was made before the extensive Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act that replaced it in 1974 (Taylor&Fritsch,2011).This must have been a big changing point because not only is it for the juveniles, but the community getting involved shows that they care about how the juveniles grow up and recidivism is their biggest concern. From society’s point of view, the due process model didn’t really work effectively. The problem was, children were committing serious crimes and continuing to do it after punishment. The next step the system approached was “get tough” legislation that started in the 1970’s and is still used today. Law makers decided to not so much give the juvenile rehabilitation but instead favor punishment, justice, accountability, and public protection from the wrong-doers. (Taylor&Fritsch, 2011). During the punitive model time period, the
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