How Juvenile Court Became a Criminal Court With Younger Defendants

Abstract

Chapter 5 utilizes data from Philadelphia's juvenile court (JC) to detail the ways in which JC evolved from a would-be clinic (with a family/community focus) to a criminal court (with younger defendants committing real crimes) from the 1940s to later in the century. Perhaps the most critical development was adding 16- and 17- year-olds to the jurisdiction, which became a common trait among JCs during the first few decades after JC was founded. The older youths brought more numerous and serious crimes with them to JC. This time period also experienced a decline in the use of benign facilities, and a corresponding use of delinquent institutions to house juveniles. Meanwhile, JC became more official, dependent upon trials, and rights-oriented. The JC became criminalized, or much more like its criminal court (CC) counterpart during this time as Chapter 5 discloses. These changes in JC's nature resulted in making transfer to CC more relevant and necessary.