Blackwell Reference Online

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Juvenile delinquency refers to behaviors of children and adolescents that violate the legal code. Some jurisdictions further distinguish “delinquent offenses,” those that violate criminal law, from “status offenses” (e.g., curfew violation, truancy) that apply only to minors. The legal status of “juvenile delinquent” is relatively new. The concept of delinquency is rooted, however, in an ancient debate over when children can form criminal intent and bear criminal responsibility for their actions, and whether/how they should be officially sanctioned. Some of the earliest written legal codes make distinctions in the punishments available for children and adult offenders. By the seventeenth century, English common law adopted a classification system where children under 8 years of age were immune from criminal prosecution. For youth aged 8 to 13 years, the state had the burden of proving that the youth possessed criminal intent ( Butts & Mitchell 2000 ). In the United States, Progressive-era reformers went a step further and created an entirely new system to respond to juvenile offenders. The first juvenile court, created in Cook County, Illinois in 1899 and modeled thereafter by other states, was markedly different from criminal courts. The new court was quasi-civil and informal in nature, and under the doctrine of parens patriae (the state as parent), aspired to act in the ... log in or subscribe to read full text