CJ-207 Assignment 2-2 Template: Juvenile Court Jurisdiction Complete the following template by replacing the bracketed text with your responses
Why this court jurisdiction exists
The court jurisdiction of juvenile court exists due to the assumptions that children/minors lack both the moral and cognitive capacity to fully understand the consequences of their behavior, as well as the complementary beliefs that children should not be prosecuted in adult court but rather require judicial supervision. The goal of the juvenile court jurisdiction is to divert minor offenders from the criminal court's destructive punishments and to encourage rehabilitation based on the juvenile's needs. The proceedings of the juvenile are to be closed to the public and the offender's records remain confidential as to not interfere with the their ability to be rehabilitated and reintegrated back into society.
Importance of this court jurisdiction
The importance of jurisdiction of juvenile court is to keep in mind the minor's best interests. This system was created to protect the minor through rehabilitation, rather than through consequence. These systems goals are to maintain public safety all while addressing any necessary treatment and reintegrating minor into the community successfully
Issues that can arise from this court jurisdiction
There are many issues that can arise from the jurisdiction of juvenile court with one of the biggest being the way that the psycho-social development of these minors becomes disrupted from their experiences within the system. A second issue is that some cases are much more severe than others and further more need to be sent to an adult criminal whereas they can receive much harsher punishments. Many status offenses result in minors being
found guilty in cases such as running away, truancy of schools, curfew violation, and underage drinking. This can lead to many offenders to have ongoing mental health issues and eventually end up going down a darker path prior to the offense.