From Rehabilitation to "Just Deserts": A History of Juvenile Justice in the United States

Year 2005, Issue: 22, 35 - 49, 01.10.2005

Mary Lou O'neil

Abstract

The year 1999 marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first juvenile court in the United States, in Chicago, Illinois. Over the last one hundred years, the juvenile justice system has grown and is now firmly entrenched in the United States. The founding of juvenile courts in 1899 represented the culmination of decades of change in criminology and the handling of juveniles who came into contact with the law because of delinquency or dependence. Today there exists a juvenile court in every state, and it is nearly impossible to envision the legal system of the United States without envisioning a special forum that addresses the legal problems of children

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