Necessarily Relative: Is Juvenile Justice Speedy Enough?

Abstract

Despite 30 years of expanding procedural rights for juveniles, young offenders have not been provided with a constitutional right to a speedy trial. Yet concerns about timeliness are often equally pressing in the juvenile court. This study examines the timing of juvenile justice by analyzing delinquency case processing in nearly 400 jurisdictions. One fourth of all cases required 90 days or more to reach disposition—the maximum recommended by national standards. Processing time varied according to jurisdiction size, the rate of formal adjudications, and other characteristics of juvenile court caseloads.