Mike Fitzgerald and Desiree Maldonado

California’s Juvenile Justice System

PURPOSE OF SYSTEMPURPOSE OF SYSTEM To focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment

Providing significantly more education, treatment, and counseling programs than adult offenders

Juvenile Arrests by Juvenile Arrests by Gender, Age, and Gender, Age, and

Race Race Juvenile Arrests

California Youth Pop.

Total 222,512 4,493439

Male 74% 51%

Female 26 49

Black 1717% 8%

Hispanic 48 46

White 28 33

Other 7 14

Ages 10-11 2% 24%

Ages 12-14 27 38

Ages 15-17 71 38

FELONY

California Penal Code: classifies felonies as “violent” or “serious”

MISDEMEANOR

Punishable by probation, jail, a fine or a combination of the three

Types of Crimes Dealt With

How Prevalent is How Prevalent is JuvenileJuvenile

Crime in CA ?Crime in CA ?

Misdemeanor crimes account for 60% of all juvenile arrests!

System is Mainly a System is Mainly a Local Responsibility Local Responsibility

when referred to probation about one-half result in the filing of a petition with the juvenile for a court hearing.

Judge decides whether to make offender ward of the state

Juveniles are declared wards almost two-thirds of the time

Juveniles tried in adult court for serious crimes are placed in DJJ facility until their 18th birthday where they are transferred to a state prison.

Local And State Local And State Responsibilities Responsibilities

LOCAL LEVEL

Counties are responsible for 98% of all juvenile offender cases

STATE LEVEL

Provides the same services as DJJ, just to a smaller # of remaining delinquents who are involved in the most serious crime.

Offenders held in state facilities has dropped from 7600 in 1999 to 3000 in 2005

State spends most of it’s money trying to improve these programs

Origin of American Origin of American Juvenile Justice Juvenile Justice

SystemSystem Before the 19th century children were viewed as

miniature adults

Houses of Refuge began in 1925 in New York

By the 1940’s 53 states had joined New York, including California

California Youth California Youth AuthorityAuthority

Created in 1941

C.Y.A. is the largest institution devoted to helping young delinquent children in the U.S.

The organization handled children and young adults from ages 12 to 25

Because of abuse the organization was changed to the Division of Juvenile Justice

Dysfunction in the Division Dysfunction in the Division of Juvenile Justiceof Juvenile Justice

In 1996 more that 10,000 young adults were being taken care of by the DJJ

That is an enormous amount of individuals to receive the proper amount of attention.

Overcrowding and poor recidivism rates have led to dysfunction in the institution.

From 2004 to 2007 there have been 13,000 claims of abuse in the United States of Juvenile correction centers

Court Case at the N.A. Chaderjian Court Case at the N.A. Chaderjian

Youth Correctional Facility Youth Correctional Facility In 2004 guards were caught on videotape brutally beating

the young adults

In 2005, Joseph Daniel Maldonado was found hung in his cell

Joseph was placed in solitary confinement for 8 weeks prior to committing suicide.

The officials that ran the detention center lost personal information pertaining to his file.

Contributed to the movement against these juvenile detention centers in California.

What do we think? What do we think? California has one of the largest Juvenile Justice Systems

in America.

Throughout the years of it’s existence the CYA and DJJ have been plagued with cases of abuse.

Currently the government is attempting to get rid of the Juvenile Justice System all together

It does however, help a lot of juveniles reintegrate into society.

When grading California Juvenile Justice system we believe it deserves a C-.