Juvenile Justice System - Contemporary Juvenile Justice System and Juvenile Detention Alternatives" by William W. Patton (2012)

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution extended the protections afforded by the Bill of Rights to all American citizens, including juveniles. Today, juveniles in the United States, though, are considered special cases that require a different adjudicative approach than that provided adult offenders, but it has not always been this way. In fact, until the end of the 19th century, juveniles in the United States who became involved with the criminal justice system were treated in the much the same fashion as adults. By the fin de siecle, reforms had been made to adjudicate youthful offenders in separate channels from adults. Nevertheless, critics maintain that the American criminal justice system continues to respond to periodic calls from the general public for harsher treatment of repeat juvenile offenders in ways that deny them...
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