Unit 4: Introduction to Juvenile Justice
4.1 Concept and Rationale of Juvenile Justice
Juvenile justice = the specialised system of laws, procedures, institutions and dispositions for children in conflict with the law — separate in aim and method from the adult criminal process. The rationale (the exam’s three pillars):
- Diminished culpability — the developmental science of Unit 1.3: the young offend with immature judgment, and retributive equivalence is unjust.
- Greater malleability — the same plasticity that risks also heals: the juvenile is corrigible — the reform wager that the adult system’s pessimism denies.
- The label’s danger — the stigmatising process itself criminogenic (labeling theory’s policy face): the system must save the child from the system.
4.2 Principles of Juvenile Justice
The CRC-and-Beijing canon (the exam’s list): (1) the best interests of the child (the paramount consideration — CRC Art 3); (2) proportionality and minimum intervention (the least restrictive adequate response); (3) detention as last resort, for the shortest time (CRC Art 37(b)); (4) separation from adults (in custody and process — the contamination bar); (5) privacy and confidentiality (no publicity, sealed records, the identity’s protection); (6) presumption of innocence and the fair-trial guarantees in child-sized form (notice in understandable language, counsel, the parent’s presence, cross-examination’s protection — CRC Art 40); (7) speediness (the developmental clock — delay is the child’s particular injustice); (8) diversion’s preference (the formal process avoided where possible — Beijing Rules’ core); (9) participation and voice (the child heard — CRC Art 12); (10) reintegration as the aim (the constructive exit — the community’s restoration); (11) non-discrimination (Rule 1.6’s floor); (12) no cruel punishments, no capital, no life-without-parole (CRC Art 37(a)).
4.3 Models of Juvenile Justice
| Model | Core | Historical face | Critique |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welfare/parens patriae |
This is a preview. The complete Juvenile Delinquency notes — full unit, Exam Focus box and model questions — are in the PDF / full version. Get the complete notes →