The Juvenile Justice System: A Historical Snapshot

Restorative justice has evolved as an effective way to handle offending, especially by juveniles -- but its emergence has not been instantaneous. A snapshot of the long and often tragic history of the juvenile justice system provides a context for better understanding restorative justice’s roots.

Before the 19th century

Before the 19th century, 7-year-old children involved in the criminal system could be charged and detained in adult detention facilities.

The 19th century

The first steps in the right direction:

• In 1824, the New York House of Refuge was built to rehabilitate juvenile offenders instead of punishing them.
• In 1850, Ohio State Reform School was the first reformatory to offer vocational training.
• In 1899, other states started youth reform homes.

1967

In 1967, Arizona juvenile court sentenced Gerald Francis Gault, who was only 15 at the time, to six years in prison after being found guilty of having made obscene phone calls to a neighbor. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court overturned the sentence and granted children some but not all of the rights listed in the Bill of Rights:

• The right to receive notice of charges
• The right to obtain legal counsel
• The right to “confrontation and cross-examination”
• The “privilege against self-incrimination”
• The right to receive a transcript of the proceedings
• The right to “appellate review”

1968-1974

In addition to these rights, the Legislature later intervened and enacted:

• The Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Control Act of 1968 to encourage states to create community-based programs that would decrease juvenile delinquency
• The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974
• The creation in 1974 of:
  • The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
  • The Runaway Youth Program
  • The National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (NIJJDP)

Between the late 1980s and mid 1990s

Between the late 1980s and mid 1990s youth crime drastically escalated. The JJDPA was amended to allow states to try juveniles as adults for some violent crimes and weapons violations, making the juvenile system more similar to the adult criminal justice system. Serious youth offenders were defined by the OJJDP as “juveniles for whom violence was a way of life.”

2000

In the OJJDP February 2000 “Juvenile Justice Bulletin”, it was recognized that the threat of juvenile violence and delinquency had been grossly exaggerated in the 1990s. Nonetheless, the fear experienced during this time period resulted in significant changes to the United States’ approach to juvenile crime.

Now

Contemporary restorative justice can be traced to a case in 1974 in Elmira, Ontario, where two teenagers vandalized 22 properties. Probation officer Mark Yantzi suggested that the two youths face their victims to apologize, hear what the victims had to say, determine the amount of restitution, ask for forgiveness and assure the victims that they were not targeted, as it was a random act of vandalism. Since then, many restorative justice approaches have been implemented and are now flourishing.

Flow Chart of the Juvenile Justice System