Juvenile Justice in African and Western Criminal Justice Systems


Book Description

"This book intends to provide a comprehensive introduction to the field of juvenile justice from a comparative perspective between African and Western criminal justice systems. Most African jurisdictions inherited the juvenile justice systems from colonial governments, and many of these African jurisdictions still maintain the colonial structure in dealing with juvenile offenders. It is designed to help readers understand the complexities of the present juvenile justice practice by presenting in a comparative perspective, a thorough examination of the social, historical, and legal context within which delinquency and juvenile justice practice occur"--




Youth and Justice in Western States, 1815-1950


Book Description

This book explores the treatment of junevile offenders in modern Western history. The last few decades have witnessed major debates over youth justice policies. Juvenile and youth justice legislation has been reviewed in a number of countries. Despite the fact that new perspectives, such as restorative justice, have emerged, the debates have largely focused on issues that bring us back to the inception of juvenile justice: namely whether youth justice ought to be more akin to punitive adult criminal justice, or more sensitive to the welfare of youths. This issue has been at the core of policy choices that have given juvenile justice its orientations since the beginning of the twentieth century. It also gave shape to the evolution that paved the way for the creation of juvenile courts in the nineteenth century. Understanding those early debates is essential if we are to understand current debates, and place them into perspective. Based on primary archival research, this comprehensive study begins by presenting the roots, birth and evolution of juvenile justice, from the nineteenth century up to the beginning of the twenty-first. The second part deals with nineteenth century responses to juvenile delinquency in England and Canada, while the third focuses on the welfare orientation that characterized juvenile courts in the first half of the twentieth century in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Finally, the fourth part focuses on the perspective of the youths and their families in Belgium, France and Canada.




World Criminal Justice Systems


Book Description

World Criminal Justice Systems, Ninth Edition, provides an understanding of major world criminal justice systems by discussing and comparing the systems of six of the world’s countries -- each representative of a different type of legal system. An additional chapter on Islamic law uses three examples to illustrate the range of practice within Sharia. Political, historical, organizational, procedural, and critical issues confronting the justice systems are explained and analyzed. Each chapter contains material on government, police, judiciary, law, corrections, juvenile justice, and other critical issues. The ninth edition features an introduction directing students to the resources they need to understand comparative criminal justice theory and methodology. The chapter on Russia includes consideration of the turmoil in post-Soviet successor states, and the final chapter on Islamic law examines the current status of criminal justice systems in the Middle East.




Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice


Book Description

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.




Rethinking Juvenile Justice


Book Description

What should we do with teenagers who commit crimes? In this book, two leading scholars in law and adolescent development argue that juvenile justice should be grounded in the best available psychological science, which shows that adolescence is a distinctive state of cognitive and emotional development. Although adolescents are not children, they are also not fully responsible adults.




International Handbook of Juvenile Justice


Book Description

This comprehensive reference work presents inside information on the Juvenile Justice-systems in 19 different countries, both in old and new EU-member states and in the United States and Canada. The book is the result of research conducted by a group of outstanding researchers, who are concerned about trends in Juvenile Justice in the last two decades, which blur the border between criminal and juvenile justice.




Controversies in Juvenile Justice and Delinquency


Book Description

After providing a history of the development of the juvenile court, this book explores some of the most important current controversies in juvenile justice. Original essays review major theories of juvenile delinquency, explore psychological and biological factors that may explain delinquent behavior, and examine the nexus between substance abuse and delinquency. A final chapter provides a comparative analysis.




Juvenile Justice in Global Perspective


Book Description

Provides a comparison of criminal justice and juvenile justice systems across the world, looking for points of comparison and policy variance that can lead to positive change in the United States. Contributors discuss important issues such as the relationship between political change and juvenile justice, the common labels used to unify juvenile systems in different regions and in different forms of government, the types of juvenile systems that exist and how they differ, and more. Furthermore, they use data on criminal versus juvenile justice in a wide variety of nations to create a new explanation of why separate juvenile and criminal courts are felt to be necessary. --From publisher description.