Juvenile Courts: Have they Outgrown their Usefulness?
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058303000406 |
| Published date | 01 December 1983 |
| Author | Sarah McCabe |
| Date | 01 December 1983 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
136
Juvenile
Courts:
Have
they
Outgrown
their
Usefulness?
Sarah
McCabe
Formerly
Research
Worker,
Oxford
Centre for
Socio-legal
Studies.
Proposals
for
a
radical
reform
of
Juvenile
Justice,
in
the
light
of
experience
in
Scotland
and
Northern
Ireland.
In
most
urban
areas
of
England
and
Wales,
the
procedures
of the
present-day
juvenile
court
seem
little
suited
to
its
purpose
which
is,
and
has
been
for
the
last
fifty
years,
the
control
and
care
of
delinquent
and
deprived
children
with
full
regard
to
their
welfare.
There
is
a
growmg
resemblance
between
adult
and juvenile
courts
m
matters
of punishment,
and
an
increasing
involvement
of
lawyers
in
the
juvenile
court
process.
Whatever
the
reason,
and
however
great
the
benefits,
the
presence
of lawyers
as
prosecutors
and
as
defenders
has
greatly
in-
creased
the
formality,
the
adversarial
atmosphere
and
the
physical
over-crowding
in
courts
whose
original
purpose
was
to
introduce
into
the
criminal
process
a
pnvacy
and
intimacy
for
children
that
would
promote
the
welfare
both
of
offenders
and
of
those
who
are
deprived.
.
It
is
therefore
helpful
and
instructive
to
examine
the
policy
and
practice
of
juvenile
justice
in
Northern
Ireland,
where
the
judicial
system
is
broadly
the
same
as
that
in
England
and
Wales,
and
Scotland.
Northern
Ireland
For
historical
reasons,
each
juvenile
court
in
Northern
Ireland
is
presided
over
by
a
legally
qualified
chairman,
sitting
with
two
lay
assessors.
There
is
no
equivalent
legislation
to
the
Children
and
Young
Persons
Act,
1969.
The
measures
available
to
the
courts
are,
in
general,
based
on
the
1933
legislation
(updated
in
1968).
Offending
and
non-offending
children
are
dealt
with
by
the
same
court
and
made
subject
to
the
same
measures
of
control
and
of
care.
A
recent
interdepartmental
committee,
however,
considered
the
need
for
change
and
recommended
that
there
should
be
a
total
separation
of
care
and
criminal
cases.l
1
Children
who
were
neglected
or
abused,
or
those
who
found
it
hard
to
accept
the
discipline
of school
or
family,
should
not
be
subj ected
to
the
measures
of
care
and
control
that
were
used
for
offending
children.
If
institutions
for
neglected
and
deprived
children
were
needed
they
should
be
authorised
and
managed
by
the
Department
of Health
and
Social
Services.
Where judicial
decisions
had
to
be
made,
that
is
m
contested
cases
or
where
a
child
had
no
parent
or
guardian,
the
appropriate
court
was
not
the
juvenile
court,
which
is
part
of
the
criminal
jurisdiction.
There
was,
however,
no
recom-
mendation
about
which
court,
on
the
civil
side,
should
be
responsible
for
such
cases.
For
offending
children,
said
the
Report,
custodial
punishment
should
be
the
last
resort.
Moreover,
no
custodial
institution
for
children
should
be
managed
or
staffed
by
those
who
were
involved
in
the
custody
of
adults.
The
Probation
Service
should
undertake
the
supervision
of
all
offending
children
and
the
provision
of
inter-
mediate
treatment,
while
the
governance
of
custodial
institutions
(and
perhaps
one
would
suffice)
should
be
undertaken
by
the
management
committee
of
the
Probation
Service.
If
all
these
reforms
are
accepted
and
incorporated
in
new
legislation
for juveniles
in
Northern
Ireland,
there
will
be
a
complete
separation
between
the
provision
for
children
in
need
and
the
control
of
those
who
have
broken
the
law.
An
equally
important
separation
is
between
custodial
institutions
for
children
and
those
for
adults.
This
has
been
effected
in
this
country
only
for
children
under
fourteen.
Scotland
None
of
the
recommendations
of
the
Northern
Ireland
Committee
have
yet
received
legislative
recognition;
the
critic
of
the
English
system
must
turn
to
Scotland
for
legislative
reforms
that
could
provide
a
model
for
much
needed
changes
south
of the
border.
A
system
of children’s
hearings
was
established
throughout
Scotland
twelve
years
ago.
It
is
considered
to
be
highly
successful
in
promoting
the
welfare
of
all
children
who
appear
before
it,
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