Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts.

Even though youth crime rates have fallen since the mid-1990s, public fear and political rhetoric over the issue have heightened. The Columbine shootings and other sensational incidents add to the furor. Often overlooked are the underlying problems of child poverty, social disadvantage, and the pitfalls inherent to adolescent decisionmaking that contribute to youth crime. From a policy standpoint, adolescent offenders are caught in the crossfire between nurturance of youth and punishment of criminals, between rehabilitation and "get tough" pronouncements. In the midst of this emotional debate, the National Research Council's Panel on Juvenile Crime steps forward with an authoritative review of the best available data and analysis. Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents recommendations for addressing the many aspects of America's youth crime problem. This timely release discusses patterns and trends in crimes by children and adolescentsâ€"trends revealed by arrest data, victim reports, and other sources; youth crime within general crime; and race and sex disparities. The book explores desistanceâ€"the probability that delinquency or criminal activities decrease with ageâ€"and evaluates different approaches to predicting future crime rates. Why do young people turn to delinquency? Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents what we know and what we urgently need to find out about contributing factors, ranging from prenatal care, differences in temperament, and family influences to the role of peer relationships, the impact of the school policies toward delinquency, and the broader influences of the neighborhood and community. Equally important, this book examines a range of solutions: Prevention and intervention efforts directed to individuals, peer groups, and families, as well as day care-, school- and community-based initiatives. Intervention within the juvenile justice system. Role of the police. Processing and detention of youth offenders. Transferring youths to the adult judicial system. Residential placement of juveniles. The book includes background on the American juvenile court system, useful comparisons with the juvenile justice systems of other nations, and other important information for assessing this problem.

"The report identifies seven hallmarks of a developmental approach to juvenile justice to guide system reform: accountability without criminalization, alternatives to justice system involvement, individualized response based on needs and risks, confinement only when necessary for public safety, genuine commitment to fairness, sensitivity to disparate treatment, and family engagement. Implementing Juvenile Justice Reform outlines how these hallmarks should be incorporated into policies and practices within OJJDP, as well as in actions extended to state, local, and tribal jurisdictions to achieve the goals of the juvenile justice system through a developmentally informed approach."--Publisher's description.

Administering justice to juvenile offenders has largely been the domain of the states, and as a result of this the laws that pertain to juvenile offenders can vary widely from state to state. There is no federal juvenile justice system. Although the federal government does not play a direct role in administering juvenile justice, in the 1960s, the federal government began establishing federal juvenile justice agencies and grant programs in order to influence the states' juvenile justice systems. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974 created many of the federal entities and grant programs that continue to operate today, including the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the State Formula Grants Program. This book analyses the current federal legislation that influences the state juvenile justice systems. Although the book provides some background information on the evolution of juvenile justice in the United States, the main focus of the book is the major federal legislation that impacts state juvenile justice systems, including the JJDPA. It also provides a bibliography of a comprehensive list of resources about the field of juvenile justice. Each annotation explains what the item is about, and citations are organised into the following areas: courts; juvenile assessment; assessment tools; programs; programs for young women; facilities; training; websites; and juvenile sex offenders.

Revised editon of: Juvenile justice sourcebook: past, present, and future / [edited by] Albert R. Roberts.

"The contributors consistently present complex material with a readable style relatively free of technical jargon. Accordingly, this outstanding reference work is highly recommended for school and public library collections, as well as academic libraries and criminal justice collections." --REFERENCE & USER SERVICES QUARTERLY "There is no comparable work. Useful for anyone doing research in the field of juvenile justice. Highly recommended." --CHOICE "What makes this work truly usable is its wonderful indexing and exceptional bibliographies. . . . If juvenile interaction with the judicial system is a research topic at your school, this volume is one of the best sources." --LIBRARY MEDIA CONNECTION From boot camps to truancy, the Encyclopedia of Juvenile Justice provides more than 200 up-to-date, concise, and readable entries in a single, authoritative volume. The editors, noted authors of several criminal justice books and editors of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Prisons, cover historical and contemporary theories, concepts, and real-world practices of juvenile justice in the United States. The entries address a broad range of issues and topics, such as alcohol and drug abuse, arson, the death penalty for juveniles, computer and Internet crime, gun violence, gangs, missing children, school violence, teen pregnancy, and delinquency theories. In addition, topics cover society′s response to the problems of juvenile justice, punishments meted out to America′s juvenile offenders, juvenile rehabilitation programs, and well-known researchers and professionals in the field. Key Features More than 200 articles, written by a stellar collection of academic theorists and real-world practitioners Complete review of the complicated juvenile legal and court system, juvenile punishment, rehabilitation efforts, and legislation Extensive entries on child and adolescent crimes, pathologies, and problems Coverage of psychological, biological, and sociological theories of delinquency, as well as historic "body type" theories Addresses such historical topics as the deinstitutionalization movement, the Chicago Area Project, and the Provo Experiment Profiles historic theorists and policymakers in juvenile justice Includes a special appendix on print and electronic resources on juvenile justice Comprehensive index, including a reader′s guide that facilitates browsing and offers easy access to information Recommended Libraries Public, academic, school, law/legal, special, and private/corporate