JUVENILE JUSTICE

Across the nation, juvenile courts and corrections systems are littered with poorly conceived
strategies that may increase crime, endanger juveniles, damage their future prospects, waste
billions of taxpayer dollars, and violate our deepest held principles about equal justice under the
law. The juvenile justice system operates according to the philosophy and belief that youths are
fundamentally different than adults, both in terms of level of the government’s responsibility to
them and the potential for their rehabilitation. The treatment and successful reintegration of
youth into the community are the primary goals of the juvenile justice system, along with
maintaining its overall public safety. This reflects the overall goal of the juvenile justice system
to rehabilitate juveniles, which does so by attempting to identify mental and behavioral
disorders or traumas in youths in order to better provide services for them. Some of these
youths may be diverted from detention centers into juvenile probation, where they can continue
to be in the community where treatment services are based rather than remaining in pretrial
detention or proceeding to full detention commitments.