RETAIN THE JUVENILE-COURT - LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS, REFORM DIRECTIONS, AND THE CALL FOR ABOLITION

Several trends are discernible in today's juvenile court: a harsher ap proach to serious, chronic juvenile offenders, though this orientation is not shared by all juvenile courts; an easing of punitiveness toward status offenders, characterized by reduced intervention and curbs on incarcera tion, an expansion of the prosecutor's decision-making role at intake. State legislators, reflecting the public�s concerns, are redefining juvenile court purposes and practices. National study commissions have proposed changes that are more radical: the elimination of juvenile court jurisdiction over status offenders; the replacement of individualized rehabilitation as an operating goal of juvenile justice with offense-based, determinate dispositions; and the prohibition of waiver of defense counsel. Contending that the reforms under consideration today would eliminate the rationale for specialized juvenile processing, some legal theorists are calling for abolition of the juvenile court and transfer of its delinquency jurisdiction to the criminal courts. Reform of the juvenile court is needed, but abolition would create massive problems. The misdemeanor courts, which would absorb the bulk of delinquent offenders, are currently the largest blight on American judicial administration. The problems resulting from abolition would outweigh the alleged advantages. © 1979, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.