ASSGINMENT

ON
History of juvenile justice and
Classical school thought regarding punishment
Submitted To:
Sir Zain
Submitted By:
Muhammad Ameer Hamza
Roll No;
ECRF19E045
Program:
M.Sc. Criminology
Semester:
2nd
Outline:
1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Historical Background
4. Types of juvenile institutions in history
5. Types of Juvenile Delinquents
6. Major Theory of Juvenile Delinquency; Classical school
of Thought
I. Suggestions
II. Weaknesses in the Classical School of
Criminology
III. Principle of classical school of criminology by
Baccaria (on punishment)
7. Conclusion
Introduction:

Juvenile delinquency, is the study of antisocial and criminal behavior committed by persons
under the age of 18. The two terms are used delinquency in popular discourse. 1. Persons in
adulthood shows antisocial and criminal behavior is known as crime. It shows that juvenile
delinquency is the child and adolescent version of crime. Juvenile delinquency covers two
common types of behaviors, status and delinquent offenses. Status offenses are behaviors that are
not good or unhealthy for children and adolescents, and the behaviors are prohibited because of
the age of the offender. These behaviors, if committed by adults, are not illegal. Examples of
status offenses include smoking or Alco holing, or absentees at school. Here we discuss the
history of Juvenile Delinquency.

Crimes rates are started in the mid of 1990s, public fear over this issue is
heightened from a policy standpoint, adolescent offenders are caught in the crossfire between
punishment of youth and punishment of criminals between rehabilitation and “get tough” Before
that, children and youth were seen as "miniature adults" and tried and punished as adults. But
now in the understanding of child development approach changed all of that.

Historical Background:

An important part in the history of juvenile delinquency occurred in (1974) with the passage of
time in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. This act was the wide change in
juvenile justice since the instituting of the “juvenile court”.

There were 5 major points of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Act.

 1st, it commanded to finish the criminalization of status offenders so that they were not
considered delinquent.
 2nd, it instructed the un-institutionalization of juvenile correction center so that only the
severe juvenile delinquents would be eligible for imprisonment. In addition, the act
authorized that status offenders should not be established and that juveniles in adult jails
and prisons should be kept separated from adults.
 3rd, it widened use of diversion as a different to formal handling in “juvenile court”.
  4th, it sustained presentation of due process legal rights to juveniles.
 5th, it produced the “federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(OJJDP)”, which funded research to assess juvenile justice programs and circulated
research conclusions on the juvenile justice system.

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act was altered in (1977, 1980, 1984, and
1988) and as recently as (2002).Instantly, in (1980) the act specified the jail and lockup removal
requirement, which meant that juveniles could not be imprisoned or restrained in adult jails or
cells. Adult services had a six-hour refinement period to determine the age of the offender or
pass the youth to a juvenile facility. (Jails in rural had up to 48 hours.) The act identified the
unbalanced minority imprisonment requirement, which required juvenile corrections to gather
data on the racial composition of their population compared to the racial composition of the state
(in 1998). 2002, the year in which this was transformed to unequal minority contact, ethnic data
were directed for all sides of the juvenile justice system.

(During the progressive era, between 1880 to 1920), social circumstances in the U. S were
branded by huge waves of immigration and in-believable increase in urbanization. As a result,
number of poor children roamed in the streets, and many became tangled in criminal activity.

Initially, children who were found involved of crimes were kept with adult criminals. Social
workers, law creators, and other officials realized that children’s existing with adults were
learning adult criminal behaviors, and might they adopt the life long career in criminality.
Because of this bad influence, than after that separate juvenile court systems and additional
correctional institutions were advanced.

Heinous crime juvenile.

Even today, minors charged with certain juvenile offenses (like murder) may be transferred to
adult courts.

Early juvenile institutions in the United States were based on the English institution which
emphasized the teaching of life and trade skills. The idea behind teaching skills was that
criminality was a result of the social environment and often was a survival mechanism. If youth
were taught other skills, they were more likely to make meaningful contributions to society upon
their release.

Types of juvenile institutions began to appear in the United States during the
progressive era.

1. Houses of refuge,

2. New reformatories,

3. Separate institutions for juvenile females.

1. Houses of refuge:

The first juvenile courts run under the philosophy of “parens patriae”. This philosophy meant the
state could act "as a parent," and gave juvenile courts the power to intervene whenever court
officials felt intervention was in the best interests of the child. Any offense committed was
secondary to the offender.

Parens patriae; was arranged to handle youth committing criminal acts, the choice of this
philosophy became more vast and was regularly debated in courts. A number of critical cases
evolve which helped the juvenile justice system evolve.

2. New reformatories:

At the 20th century, the United States formed a separate justice system for juveniles that
included special courts with reformatories. Probation and home treatment instead of confinement
are encouraged. But, reformatories continued as the main form of institutional confinement and
care for delinquent youths through the first of the 20th century. As they increasingly stressed
education and came to resemble public and trade schools, the designations “reformatory” and
“reform school” were replaced by “training school” or “industrial school.” Although these
institutions were often considered “schools for crime,” where confinement gave youths have
chance to meet with other delinquents and increase their criminal ways.

As compared to the traditional model of most reformatories for delinquent’s boys, which was
based on the military camp, the “family reform school model”. This model was popular in
France and Germany and then started in the United States.
3. Separate institutions for juvenile females:

Although both male and female arrests have decreased in recent years, female arrests are less in
number then male. Due to this the proportion of probation is increased in juvenile court for
female youth. This is the personal analysis of risk and service use among adolescent females
juvenile justice system.

 Several risk factors of female delinquent:

Entry of female youth into the juvenile justice system. Those commonly noted as factors to
delinquent behavior are maltreatment, poverty, and mental health problems, issues with family
and parents dysfunctioning residence in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods.

Types of Juvenile Delinquents:

Juvenile delinquents are a group of young people that are different in terms of the severity of
delinquent acts they do, it is important how early they begin their delinquent career, and how
long they commit delinquency. For many youths, juvenile delinquency is a short term that goes
away as quickly as it appear. It is common and for adolescents to engage in minor forms of
misbehavior and delinquency as they mature through adolescence and enter in adulthood. But for
some youths, juvenile delinquency has a more troubling meaning. Several research have shown
that a small group of youth comprising approximately 5% to 10% of the population forms
serious, violent, and chronic offenders. Although this group is small in number, they account for
more than half of the juvenile delinquency found in a population and even greater levels of the
most violent offenses, such as murder, rape, and robbery. Because of the observed consistency
with which the small group of serious delinquents appears in crime data criminologists have
developed theories and helped to influence public policies that are tailored to the various needs
and risk profiles of different types of juvenile delinquents.

For example, The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) published the
detailed Strategy for Serious in 1993, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders, which is a
research based structure of strategic responses to help local and state juvenile justice systems
respond to delinquency. Two years later, the OJJDP conducted a national training and assistance
initiative to put the Comprehensive Strategy into place.

1. The Comprehensive Strategy by OJJDP has two main components

 Prevention and
 Graduated sanctions
I. Prevention targets youths that are at risk for juvenile delinquency and
attempts to increase their pro-social development by focusing on healthy and
nurturing families, safe communities, school attachment, Pro-social peer
relations, personal development and life skills, and healthy lifestyle choices.
In other words, prevention provides education and guidance on the very
factors that will insulate youths from selecting a delinquent career.
II. Graduated sanctions, that is the second component of the Comprehensive
Strategy, target the same pro-social developmental points but for a different
target population of youths those that have already begun their delinquent
career.

CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY:

Jeremy Bentham and Cesare Baccaria are the founder of classical school of thought. Bentham
was an English philosopher who focused on utilitarianism principle. Bentham is believer of
utilitarianism, and he agrees that happiness is the right of the people and as a consequences
should lead happy lives. This philosophy help deter punishment to set the rules and regulations
and create punishment that is suitable to the crime committed. This is the initial stages of the
Classical School of Thought.

Beccaria, was an Italian philosopher. Bentham and Baccaria, were moved by the climate of
crime and punishment establishment throughout 18th century Europe. Throughout this era
Europeans applied capital punishment in result of criminal and deviant behavior. That Criminals
would be, punished extremely and harshly matchless by America’s civilized practice, of the
death penalty or hard labor. Result is; classical thinking developed in response to the cruel forms
of punishment that dominated the times free-thinking approaches to be engaged towards crime
and punishment.

Classical School of Criminology is basically involved in that “criminals have rational choice and
choose to do criminal acts due to supreme pleasure and least pain”. It is explained further by the
theorist go that to deter and reduce crime. The severity of penalties given should be balanced to
the crime committed and no more than what is appropriate to deter the Criminal and others from
committing more crimes.

Understanding this theory one should 1st understand into the meaning of this thought and frame
of understanding. The Classical School highlights that people are rational in decision to commit
crime. It means that the offender knows, the positive and negative consequences of the crime.
They take part in criminal activity as a kind of enjoyment or for a specific reason to satisfy
himself. To gain money, sex, wealth, and other desirable. So, if the instant gain of the crime
beats to consequences of punishment, than if the offender commit the crime and feel pain the
possible penalties to get the short-term gain attained from the crime.

Punishment, is to deter crime and the harshness of the punishment must be equal to the crime
itself, as was the case in 18th century Europe, many people would receive a punishment that
compensated the severity of the crime. For instance, in the historical foreign countries cut off the
finger or the hand of the thief. This punishment for stealing balances, the severity of the crime. If
the item stolen was minimal compared to the price or usefulness of a loss this can be seen. This
is found in an era where women were hanged or beheaded for acts such as disloyalty, when
currently disloyalty is not unlawful or prohibited and some may even argue that disloyalty is a
common practice.

 The Classical School of Criminology boosts fairness and better use of the criminal
justice system, just to minimize crime and deter criminal act.
 The classical school of criminology is on the bases of four basic principles discussed
above.
Classical school of criminology suggests that:

 Individuals have their own will and rational to act according to their own choice
and desires.
 Individuals analyze the rationality of the crime based on the benefits of the crime
 Severity of the punishment should be equal to the severity of the crime, to deter
others and reduce crime.
 Punishment must be swift and appropriate to deter others and reduce crime.

These classical theories on crime, and behavior continue to proceeds shape and play a significant
role in (criminal justice systems) in the world.

1. Principle of classical school of criminology by Baccaria (on punishment)

i. Utilitarian principle should be follow on social action.

ii. Crime is a damage to society, and the crime can be measured by the measure of the loss.
iii. Crime deterrence is more important than punishment. Laws must be published so people
can understand and support them.
iv. In criminal procedure, hidden accusations and suffering must be stopped. There should be
fast trials, and evidence can be hide by the accused as a defense.
v. Aim of punishment is to stop crime. “Punishment must be swift, certain, and severe”.
There should be no death punishment. That are not repairable, That Life sentence, is a
good deterrent.
vi. Imprisonment should be used broadly, but prison environments should be improved.

Weaknesses in the Classical School of Criminology:

This theory suggests that criminals show unlawful behavior because of choice and
will. Although this may be true but not at all. In this way, the theory; puts the blame for the
crime problems on the shoulders of the individual, and not on society as a whole. Even children
understand the difference between right and wrong not everyone participates in criminal
behavior because of choice, or rationalization.
  Some may act criminal because of irrational thinking, choice or will.
 Mental inabilities
 Poor impulsive control
 Low IQ
 Mental capacity
 Due to need and survival
 There may be biological factors discontinuing an individual from thinking or behaving
rationally.

For Example;

The person who is poor and hungry. In this condition when this individual steals food it is
not done due to free will the stealing of food is done to survive. In the end this classical
theory, have weak origin for the nature of criminal behavior.

To understand the Classical School of Criminology; we can see significance of this theory and its
application in modern criminal justice system. It gives logics of criminal behavior, and
suggestions for punishment and crime of control.

This theory was developed in the 18th century still applied and successfully in the 21st century.
American justice system is established on this theory. In addition, the current system does not
mentions the social factors that help impact deviant and criminal behavior. Like;

 drug use
 Mental inabilities,
 Poverty

Though this theory has importance and reality but it is missing in the nature of the criminal and
crime. Not each person is a criminal by their will or choice. Some may go to criminal activity
due to many social factors and external factors like; such as,

 Oppression
 lack of opportunity
 low socio-economic statue
  Joblessness and so on.

 Especially in American societies social factors build the individuals deviant behavior.
Without changing issues widespread in American society such as mentioned above crime
will continue to be high in poor communities amongst minor and those who are drug

addicted .
Conclusion:

Classical school of criminology concludes that the use of capital punishment, torture, and
corporal punishment has dropped. Researchers suggest that Classical School has changed the
choice and range of punishment. In the past, criminal justice systems, punishment are
implemented in the form of pain. People were beaten, tortured, hanged, beheaded, as well as
other types of physical punishment. As time advanced, the criminal justice systems, has moved
away from this.

We can also see in studying and recognizing the American and European practice of punishment
and system of criminal justice. Today, individuals are incarcerated and detained by the state.
This has helped shape the role and appropriateness of punishment. Also, it is a foundation used
to deter others from the crime, helping and understand the significance of their behavior
offender.

As a result, the development of prison as a major organization of punishment, to take punishment

away from the body and instead punish the mind and soul to changing offender’s viewpoint of
their criminal behavior. The popularity and use of School of Classical Criminology; can be
observed in America’s criminal justice system.
References
(n.d.). https://study.com/academy/lesson/history-of-juvenile-delinquency.html.

Beccaria, C. (.-M. (n.d.).

Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. (n.d.).

Classical school of criminology. ((2012)).

Siegal, L. J. ((2010). Criminology). Criminology, The Core.