Juvenile Delinquents and Their Treatment

• Author: Ivan Nicolle,Paul W. Tappan
• Date: 01 January 1962
• DOI: 10.1177/000271626233900112
• Published date: 01 January 1962
• Subject Matter: Articles

157

Juvenile

Delinquents

and

Their

Treatment

By

PAUL

W.

TAPPAN

and

IVAN

NICOLLE

*

Paul

W.

Tappan,

Ph.D.,

Jur.Sc.D.,

LL.D.,

New

York

City,

is

Professor

of

Sociology

and

Law,

New

York

University,

and

Associate

Reporter

on

the

Model

Penal

Code,

Ameri-

can

Law

Institute.

He

is

author

of

Delinquent

Girls

in

Court

(1947),

Juvenile

Delin-

quency

(1949),

Comparative

Survey

of

Juvenile

Delinquency:

North

America

(1952,

1959),

Crime,

Justice

and

Correction

(1960),

and

editor

of

Contemporary

Correction

(1951).

Ivan

Nicolle,

B.A.

(Honours),

Ph.D.,

Geneva,

Switzerland,

is

Associate

Social

Affairs

Officer,

United

Nations,

and

Editor

of

the

International

Review

of

Criminal

Policy.

He

received

his

degrees

from

University

of

Ceylon

and

New

York

University

respectively.

ABSTRACT:

The

juvenile

court

as

the

major

device

for

deal-

ing

with

young

offenders

has

roots

in

the

English

common

law,

which

distinguished

between

adult

offenders

and

the

young,

who

could

not

sufficiently

distinguish

between

right

and

wrong

to

be

held

responsible

for

their

illegal

actions.

Even

today,

however,

the

definition

of

juvenile

delinquency

is

tautological:

the

delinquent

is

he

who

has

been

adjudicated

as

such

by

a

court

of

proper

jurisdiction,

and

juvenile

delinquency

is

any

act,

course

of

conduct,

or

situation

which

might

be

brought

before

a

court

and

adjudicated

as

such.

Many

juvenile

cases

are

settled

by

the

police

without

going

to

court,

and

others

are

handled

by

the

court

unofficially.

Court

procedures

resemble

regular

criminal

proceedings,

but

there

are

a

number

of

im-

portant

differences,

some

of

which

suggest

constitutional

ques-

tions.

Guilt

is

not

generally

considered

an

issue;

a

greater

effort

is

made

to

discover

why

the

youth

has

come

into

the

hands

of

the

court,

regardless

of

whether

or

not

he

is

delin-

quent.

In

most

juvenile

court

hearings,

no

counsel

appears

for

the

child,

and

case

law

holds

that

he

is

not

entitled

to

counsel.

In

most

states,

the

child

cannot

demand

jury

trial.

Broadly,

it

can

be

said

that

due

process

is

not

strictly

followed.

Also,

the

validity

of

corrective

measures

can

be

questioned.

The

extent

of

juvenile

delinquency

and

its

recent

growth

sug-

gest

the

desirability

of

a

thorough

and

objective

reconsidera-

tion of

the

means

and

the

methods

hitherto

employed

in

deal-

ing

with

young

law

violators.—Ed.

*

The

opinions

expressed

in

this

article

are

not

necessarily

those

of

the

United

Nations.