Controversies Surrounding Juvenile Courts

• What do some historians argue regarding the juvenile courts?

  Historians argue that juvenile courts did not adhere the child saving principles of the Juvenile Delinquents Act. They described these courts as an oppressive regime targeting the working class.
• How did parents interact with these juvenile courts? Why was this controversial?

  The courts depended on parents to provide them with clients through turning in their children. Parents were in favour of incarceration whereas judges and court personnel were in favour of probation.
• What was the result of dropping off their kids in these juvenile courts?

  The result of this was the institutionalisation of youths as voluntary cases.

  • Voluntary cases included youths with no other options who agreed to be institutionalised, and youth turned in by their parents who wanted them institutionalised.
  • The institutionalisation of working class youth was not entirely due to social control at the hands of the ruling class – it was the youths' own parents who played a considerable role.