Goals for Change

Recognition of Juvenile-Adult Differences

A model system recognizes the fundamental developmental differences between young people and adults. Regardless of periodic demands to make “punishments” fit “crimes,” it does not mimic the criminal justice system, or shade into it by degrees. It remains committed to individualized and developmentally appropriate handling of delinquents, as one of the core values that led to the creation of a parallel system of justice for youth in the first place.

As a practical matter, this core commitment can be severely tested when young people are accused of serious and especially violent offenses. But a model system resists calls to criminalize delinquent acts, and seeks to retain responsibility for all individuals capable of benefiting from rehabilitation and treatment in the juvenile justice system.

In providing for those rare cases in which it may not be possible to accommodate young people in the juvenile system, a model system will:

• Entrust juvenile court judges with discretionary decision-making authority over individual cases, rather than mandate transfer of wholesale categories to the adult system
• Give judges flexible and non-criminal sanctioning options, such as extended jurisdiction and blended sentencing, rather than an either/or choice between juvenile and criminal handling
• Require that amenability to treatment, culpability, adjudicative competence, and other individual factors be taken into account in decision-making
• Build in relief mechanisms for correcting mistakes and injustices in individual cases—for example, allowing criminal courts to send cases back or impose juvenile sentences of their own

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