- You have been appointed by your state legislature to review the current juvenile law in your state. One of the responsibilities you have is to recommend a change to the minimum and maximum ages of juvenile court jurisdiction in your state. Currently the maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction is age 16. Therefore, a person who commits an offense at age 16 is a juvenile, while a 17-year-old is an adult. The minimum age of juvenile court jurisdiction is 12. This means a person who commits an offense when 11 years old cannot be handled by the juvenile court system. You have studied the age minimums and maximums in all states and reviewed the statistics for juvenile adjudication. a. What would you recommend to the state legislature as the new minimum and maximum ages of juvenile court jurisdiction? b. What factors led you to raise or lower the current maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction? c. What factors led you to raise or lower the current minimum age of juvenile court jurisdiction? 2. You are an intake officer with the local juvenile probation department. One evening the police bring to you a juvenile named Jeremy Williams who has been accused of assault. The assault arose out of a confrontation between Jeremy and his ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend. According to the police, the boyfriend confronted Jeremy at a local mall and started to threaten Jeremy if he did not stop harassing his ex-girlfriend. Jeremy shoved the boyfriend who tripped and fell down a flight of stairs. The fall led to minor injuries to the boyfriend. Jeremy has never been taken into custody before and is a good student at school. He appears to be remorseful for his actions and is polite and courteous to you during the intake process. All indications are that Jeremy is a “good kid” but got caught up in a bad situation. a. What would you decide to do with the case? Would you dismiss the case, handle the matter informally, or refer the case for adjudication? b. What factors influenced your decision? State law allows you to place in detention any juvenile who has been arrested for assault. Would you place Jeremy in the detention center or release him to his parents? c. Why did you make the decision you did? 3. Your friend J.J. is a high school civics teacher and has asked you to give a 45-minute presentation on the juvenile justice in America to his students. During the course of your presentation, you outline the original purposes of the juvenile justice system in the United States and the associated assumptions of the founders of the juvenile justice system. Someone from your audience asks, “Which of the original assumptions are still in place in juvenile justice?” What do you say? 4. Robert, a 15-year-old juvenile, has been accused of shoplifting. Based on the information and assumptions of each of the three historical periods, what would likely be the outcome of this case in the traditional, due process, and punitive eras? What would people from each of the eras conclude caused Robert to become a delinquent? What would people from each of the eras assume about what to do to cure Robert’s delinquency?
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