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Juvenile Justice Reform

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The start of the juvenile justice system was a lengthy process dating back to the 18th century. Brooks and Roush (2014) explained that in earlier times "the juvenile justice was at a crossroads'' recognizing that there was cracks in the system which hindered the reform process of juveniles (p.45). The reason for the change was that juveniles as young as 7 years old, were being imprisoned with adult male and female inmates and sentenced to harsh sentences including life and executions. This created havoc within and out of the system because juvenile were being seasoned and tortured instead of being helped properly. The transition of the juvenile justice system changed many aspects of how the courts began to handle juveniles; for example, the courts started to realize that juveniles can be rehabilitated, which led to the first juvenile court was established by Jane Addams in Cook County, Illinois in 1899. During the start of the juvenile courts, juvenile offenders were housed in institutions asylums and later reform schools, which mimicked an improvement but it has shown to have the opposite effect and in a way juveniles were tortured with extensive programs that broke the offender instead of fixing the offender leading to an uphill battle. According to Chavez Garcia Miroslava (2007), ''Through the efforts to establish …show more content…

''Several articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) affect states parties' responsibilities concerning children who violate the law. Articles 37 and 40, however, set forth most of the substantive and procedural guarantees'' (p.4-6). The states across the countries began realize in 1989 that taking over the duties of the parents constricted the legal process of

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