Juvenile Justice System In England And Wales

In The Past 30 Years Essay, Research Paper

The actions of the human race can be seen, albeit sometimes after careful examination, to be influenced by certain beliefs or values. In some cases the endeavours of an individual are as a response to some event; whether this reaction is deliberated over or a ‘knee- jerk’ one, it can normally be associated with some past occurrence. Most Acts of government reflect the ideologies of the ruling party and, in some respects, what the people of England and Wales feel strongly about at that given epoch.

When studying the legislation which directs how young offenders should be treated, as this essay will do shortly, it is possible to detect certain trends. At some points the courts were directed to deal harshly with young offenders. Harsh treatment varies in severity, from hanging in the eighteenth century to the ’short, sharp, shock’ of detention centres advocated more recently. A more humane approach is also detectable within the history of juvenile justice, whereby the correction or treatment of young offenders is directed away from the penal system and towards welfare experts. There is also some legislation which can be regarded as a reaction to a certain event, as has happened recently with regard to the treatment of young people who have committed very serious crimes but, although these examples are not very common, it provides concern as to how far policy is geared toward addressing issues.

This essay will concentrate on the last 30 years of juvenile justice policy, a brief outline of the changes which have occurred in this area over a longer period will be provided in order that the debate may have some context historically (Morris & Giller 1987). Recent legislative changes and the underlying assumptions which have influenced them will then be discussed. Firstly, however, different approaches to juvenile justice will be considered.

There are two major approaches to juvenile justice, the welfare approach and the justice model. The justice model, has as its cornerstone the notion that the punishment meted out should be proportionate to the crime committed; as such it is commonly known as the “theory of commensurate deserts” (Hudson 1987: 38). Proponents of this model favour a legalistic and offence-oriented system, so that children and young people, if found guilty at a trial where they are entitled to legal representation can be punished for an act committed.

Hudson (1987: 37-38) suggests that the increasing popularity of the justice model ‘is due in large measure to the way in which it appears to offer all things to all people’. To those who favour consistency in sentencing over the discretion of welfarist approaches, a sentencing structure is available; to those who favour strictly punitive justice over child-oriented welfare approaches, ’swift and sure punishment’ is guaranteed; and to those who favour the more welfarist approach, the justice model, while providing many alternatives to custody, offers to imprison only the most serious of offenders.

The welfare model of justice, which was at its most popular in the 1960s, has as a central feature a theory of depoliticisation; the assumption being that “..juvenile offenders, unlike other juveniles in trouble, were not responsible for the circumstances which brought them before the juvenile court. The juvenile court, therefore, was to focus its attention on the status of the juvenile, rather than his or her conduct and its function was to remedy this rather than punish the offence.” (Morris & Giller 1987: 81-82). In short, the problem of crime is placed in the context of a wider deprivation. The welfare approach to juvenile justice, then, proposes a substantial shift in power, away from the courts and legal profession, and towards welfare professionals.

As Smith et al (1988: 29) note, the criminal justice system in England and Wales has developed over centuries, and is founded on the concept of ‘natural’ justice. Natural justice, in its turn, is based on the premise that, firstly, an individual may not be judge in their own cause; and secondly that, in the words of a 1924 judgement “it is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.” (op cit: 31). It is this model that the juvenile justice system in England and Wales, as well as a great many criminal justice systems in other countries, is based on. The juvenile legislature has been modified a great many times over the last 30 years, but the actual foundations of the system which was essentially a system aimed at adults – have never been explored.

It is believed that in the eighteenth century, when the age of criminal responsibility was seven, the majority of offenders who were hanged for crimes were under the age of 21. During the next century modifications gradually occurred when the first prison for offenders under 18 opened on the Isle of Wight, and the distinction between children and adults before the law was made. The 1908 Children Act established juvenile courts which, although recognising that young people have different needs to adults, merely replicated the procedures of adult courts – “the prevailing idea was that the juvenile was a wrongdoer and the old procedures for dealing with adult offenders were thought to be appropriate in most respects for dealing with juveniles.” (Morri