The Juvenile Court System

The Juvenile Court System

Before the turn of the century, children who committed crimes in North Carolina were treated in court just like adults who broke the law. Children who committed serious offenses were placed in prisons along with adult inmates. Today, children who commit criminal offenses when they are under the age of sixteen are subject to special procedures in the juvenile court system. That system, as it has evolved over the past one hundred years, reflects the following beliefs about how the state should respond to juveniles who break the law:

Except in the more serious cases, juveniles should be diverted from the court system, when that is consistent with the public safety.

When juveniles are brought into court, they are entitled to procedural fairness and to most of the same rights that adult defendants have.

When the court finds that a juvenile has violated a criminal law, the response should be a rehabilitative "disposition" designed to address the juvenile’s needs and the state’s objectives. Dispositions should be consistent with the following principles:

Whenever possible, the juvenile should be left at home and community resources should be used to provide services to the juvenile and his or her family.

The disposition should be the least restrictive plan that is appropriate.

A juvenile should not be committed to an institution unless other resources have been exhausted or are not appropriate.

The points in the process that reflect most concretely the belief that children are entitled to special treatment—treatment different from that adults receive for the same conduct—are "intake" and "disposition." These also are the points at which court counselors are involved most critically. Their decisions and skills are major determinants of how a child’s case progresses through the juvenile justice system and, ultimately, of the success or failure of intervention with the child and family. To understand the role of court counselors in the juvenile justice system, it is necessary to understand some basic terminology (see Juvenile Justice Terms), which children are subject to juvenile laws and procedures, and the primary stages of a juvenile case.