Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Juvenile Delinquency Cases SIXTEEN KEY PRINCIPLES

This article is excerpted from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' landmark JUVENILE DELINQUENCY GUIDELINES: Improving Court Practice in Juvenile Delinquency Cases, Chapter I, Foundations for Excellence, published in 2005. Beginning with a basic discussion of why separate courts for juveniles and adults continue to be necessary, the article describes the goals and key principles of a juvenile delinquency court of excellence.     

Juvenile Delinquency and Victimization in Cyprus

Criminological and criminal justice research is a relatively new academic discipline in Cyprus. The current paper first examines and critiques official data on juvenile delinquency in Cyprus. As expected, the findings on delinquency and victimization gathered from self-reported surveys suggest higher rates of delinquency than those based on official statistics. This paper is based for a large part on data obtained from the International Self-reported Delinquency Study (ISRD-2), a national survey of 2385 Cypriot 12–16 year old pupils concerning a number of delinquency risk and protective factors. Those results were compared to the data collected as part of the ISRD-2 in five European Union (EU) member states, which – like Cyprus - joined the EU in 2004. This comparison focuses on data in the capitals of the six countries concerned. Research and delinquency prevention implications are discussed.     

Preventing Juvenile Delinquency in Taiwan

The people and government of Taiwan have made special efforts to curb the increasing juvenile delinquency of recent years. This report provides the most current statistics concerning juvenile delinquency, and describes the prevention programs administered by the different branches of the government and other organizations. Based on cultural tradition, the programs are mostly primary prevention directed at the general population and focus on improving family relationships.     

Confidentiality and the Juvenile and Family Courts

Court proceedings and court records are traditionally open to the public. The courts are public institutions, and openness serves a number of important purposes including protection of the free discussion of governmental affairs and the enhancement of the quality and integrity of the fact finding process. But court proceedings also address family matters including adoptions, juvenile delinquency, child protection, and domestic relations cases. These types of cases often involve personal issues, and many family members would prefer that they remain private. In most states, many of these proceedings have been closed to the public. Strong policy reasons support both openness of family court proceedings and privacy considerations for family members, particularly children. This article addresses confidentiality in the context of juvenile and family court proceedings. It takes the position that the tension between these conflicting policies can be reduced if most family court proceedings are presumptively open, but judges are given the authority to place conditions on the information that can be revealed by observers outside the courtroom. Additionally, the article asserts that if the courts and the media take steps to change their practices and their relationship with one another, both the public interest and the confidentiality interest of the parties can be better served.     

Juvenile Delinquency in Post-Mao China

The post-Mao de-politicization put an end to the continuous class struggle in China. After the post-Mao government had removed the radical elements from the party and united the society by its appealing modernization program, it directed its attention to street crime and juvenile and young offenders. Crime committed by juvenile and young offenders has become a serious social problem. It is estimated that among the total offenders apprehended by the police, 70% are under the age of 25, and 30% under the age of 18. Despite the party's tough policy, juvenile crime is increasing and becoming more organized and violent. The paralysis of the Maoist social control system is stressed in explaining the increase in crime. The disruption in the family structure, in school and work patterns, and in neighbourhood organizations, in conjunction with a sweeping crisis of belief among the populace in general, has created a vacuum of social control in post-Mao Chinese society. The seriousness of juvenile delinquency and the lack of community undertakings have forced the government to institutionalize and legalize its control over juvenile and young offenders.     

Reintegrative Shaming and Juvenile Delinquency in Japan

The Japanese juvenile justice system has been widely regarded as operating based on the principles of reintegrative shaming. Reintegrative shaming, as opposed to a stigmatizing form of shaming, communicates disapproval of wrongdoing with respect, and emphasizes rehabilitation, reintegration, and restoration. Central to reintegrative shaming at the initial contact point of the criminal justice system in Japan are apology and diversion by the local police. Citing juvenile delinquency cases reported in a major national newspaper in Japan, this study analyzes to what extent the community reacted to the delinquency upon its commission. This analysis helps clarify the juvenile justice process in Japan, and sheds light on the theory and practice of reintegrative shaming.     

日本未成年人犯罪与预防——以日本福井县未成年人犯罪为调查对象

日本是世界发达国家中未成年人犯罪率极低的国家,学者提出了许多理论去解释这种犯罪状况.笔者通过对日本福井县的实地考察,发现这一现象与日本发达的少年预防犯罪体系及少年司法制度有关,其主要通过裁判所优先主义、审前的调查先行主义和观察监护制度、审判处理时的保护处分制度以及审后的社会复归程序等防治措施,确保有效地改造青少年和收到预防青少年犯罪的良好效果.其经验十分值得我国借鉴.     

Juvenile Delinquency in the Federal Republic of Germany

Juvenile delinquency has gained recognition worldwide as one of the most prominent criminological problem areas as well as a pressing crime political issue. The current state of this field in Germany is characterized by a tremendous increase after World War II, similar to other west European countries, but slightly leveling down since the Eighties. However, the great bulk of juvenile delinquency is built by minor offenses-in particular petty theft and non-serious road traffic offenses. Violence (although with an enormous increase), illegal drug offenses, and sexual crimes make together not more than one fifth of the total volume of youth crime. On the whole, juvenile delinquency represents the deviant behavior of young males; the proportion of female crime—although increasing too- is not higher than three decades ago, and consists mainly of shoplifting and bicycle theft. Youngsters of foreign groups or minorities are more involved in delinquency at present than in the Seventies or earlier, partly in activities of violent groups. While, in the past, rockers mainly got attention, now soccer hooligans and violent right-wing skinheads, especially when attacking minority people and asylum seekers, are in the forefront of public interest. This is true for East and West Germany. In general, the delinquents come mostly from the lower social strata, show socialization defects, have reduced start chances, are often unemployed, and are without or have less social support by their families. With regard to this, criminological experts favor socialization theories, social learning and control theories to explain these phenomena, emphasizing the binding forces of the underlying orientation of moral values. The corresponding guidelines of juvenile crime policy give preference to the application of non-custodial measures and diversion strategies on one hand, and to the reduction of freedom-depriving sanctions like community service or offender-victim-mediation on the other, indicating a successive retreat from a traditional punitive concept.     

Juvenile Delinquency in the Netherlands: Trends and Perspectives

A comparison is made, on several levels, of the laws of various states in the United States and the State of Israel concerning the crime of rape as personally committed by a husband upon his wife, known as “marital rape.” Among the fifty states, there is a sharp division whether such an act is criminal at all. The majority of states have held the act not criminal based primarily upon the common law doctrine of marital immunity first enunciated in England by Lord Hale. Some of these states have followed the Model Penal Code and codified the immunity concept within their criminal law.

Those states which have rejected Hale's immunity concept include New York, New Jersey, Alabama, and others. Upon judicial review, New York invalidated its statutory immunity for husbands by declaring it unconstitutional and a violation of the fourteenth amendment of the U.S. Constitution. New Jersey, as an example, statutorily eliminated the defense of marital immunity for rape, while other states simply rejected Hall's doctrine altogether. In 1980, Israel judicially rejected the defense of marital immunity insofar as a Jewish married couple was concerned by selectively utilizing Jewish religious law. It later enacted legislation eliminating the defense of marital immunity for rape for all persons regardless of religion.     

关于未成年人犯罪原因的思考

在我国,未成年人犯罪通常是指已满14周岁不满18周岁的未成年人实施的刑法和有关刑事法律所规定的犯罪行为。目前,未成年人犯罪日益低龄化、凶残化及智能化。作为一种社会现象,未成年人犯罪是有其特定原因的。只有找准原因,才能从源头入手,有效防止未成年人犯罪日益频发。本文从心理学和社会学两方面入手剖析原因。     

未成年人犯罪司法解释问题之省思

未成年人犯罪是不同于成年人犯罪的一类特殊的社会现象,刑事法对该现象的研究应该有不同于成人刑法的特殊视角。基于完整的少年司法制度短期内无法登堂入室的现实情况,应该充分重视通过司法解释的管道来达到理想与现实的有效沟通。所以,未成年人犯罪的刑法司法解释应该以现代少年刑事政策为灵魂,以保守实质解释论为基本立场,适时借鉴人格刑法学的相关理论来展开探索。     

网络道德失范与青少年犯罪

目前,由于网络的开放性、虚拟性、隐蔽性、无约束性等特点,使得网络道德存在着不同程度的失范现象。如道德虚无主义和相对主义泛滥,道德情感日渐冷漠、人际关系日益疏远,传统道德规范的约束作用不断削弱,网络不道德行为日益严重等。给正在成长中的青少年带来许多负面影响,甚至诱发了青少年犯罪。对此,应积极采取对策,使这种负面影响降到尽可能低的程度,以有效预防青少年犯罪,使广大青少年在网络环境中健康成长。