The Juvenile Court was created in the early 20th century on the philosophy that children are inherently different from adults and that the state should take on the responsibility of protecting and rehabilitating young offenders.
In the past 20 years, “despite actual declines in youth crime rates, public perceptions of youth violence have contributed to widespread support for the dismantling of the juvenile court system” (Morash, 2000) and tougher crime legislation, like trying children as adults and increasing incarceration as the solution to juvenile delinquency.
Research shows that incarceration does not rehabilitate juvenile offenders and that more and more youth who end up in juvenile halls or state prisons are non-violent offenders. California leads the nation in juvenile arrests and incarceration rates. In 1997, California’s juvenile custody rate was one and a half times higher than the national average. This includes a growing number of girls and a disproportionate number of minorities.
CJCJ works to promote alternatives to incarceration and to uphold rehabilitation as the primary goal of juvenile justice reform. Until the 19th century, children were punished and confined in the same ways as adults. Early jails housed men, women, adults, and juveniles, sane and insane all together.
In the early 1800’s reformers became concerned about the overcrowded conditions in the jails and the corruption youth experienced when confined with adult felons. “The first House of Refuge opened in 1825, as a facility exclusively for children. By the 1840’s, 53 more were built around the country” (Champion, 2003).
Houses of Refuge were not limited to children who had committed crimes. They were also homes for poor children, orphans, or any child thought to be incorrigible or wayward. The average number of children in any given House was 200, but some, like Refuge, housed over 1,000 youth at any given.........
