Changes in juvenile justice: evolution or reform

492 0037-8046/78/23 The juvenile justice system is ness and of assuming that youngsters currently undergoing changes that are helped and society protected by many persons believe to be as revolugood intentions alone, tionary as those that led to the conAt present, the juvenile justice sys struction of the first house of refuge tem is actively pursuing a host of new for children following the American programs of diversion and deinstitu Revolution or the creation of the juvtionalization. The prevailing assump enile court in the late 1800s. Today, tion is that by placing delinquents in the popular concepts in juvenile justice noncoercive organizations outside the programs are diversion and deinstitulegal arena, the negative effects of la tionalization. At all levels of society beling will be decreased. However, there are increasing efforts to divert given the rapid growth of such pro large numbers of persons from full grams, it would seem that instead of processing under the law and to refer decreasing the adverse effects of co them to voluntary community agenercive supervision and labeling, the cies. Deinstitutionalization has been locus of control over these youngsters linked to the policy of diversion but has merely been transferred from legal goes beyond it into the area of combureaucracies to those outside the munity-based placement of many perlegal province. Furthermore, with in sons who would once have been insticreased resources, these bureaucracies tutionalized. will increase rather than decrease the Efforts to implement these concepts number of juveniles actually under are not without opposition and certheir supervision. Such possibilities i1 tainly not without ambiguity. But the lustrate the point that reforms should changes they symbolize and the ideolnot be taken for granted but should ogy on which they are constructed are be examined to determine whether the widely shared. The concepts of diverpurposes for which they were created sion and deinstitutionalization indicate are actually being realized. To avoid a widespread disillusionment with the future lamenting over diversion and notion that the juvenile justice system deinstitutionalization, the way training can be society's "superparent" and schools are being deplored today, care symbolize new ways for organizing the should be taken to examine what is in system. fact occurring and not just what one This fact alone should give one hopes will occur, pause. As Rothman has pointed out, there is a prevailing tendency to re gard major social innovations as "re forms." 1 The prison, for example, Some leaders in the field of juvenile was regarded as a humane improvecorrections have claimed that a major ment over prior means of punishment, revolution is in progress. This revo just as the juvenile court was seen as lution is characterized as one that will an improvement over older ways of lead to the destruction of the tra dealin'g with the problems of juveniles, ditional large institutional training In light of subsequent events, howschool in favor of a variety of commu ever, it would be difficult to maintain nity-based treatment centers and will that either innovation signified unmishasten the reduction of the large num takable progress.2 To do so, as Rothbers of youngsters being processed man suggests, would not only be bad through the traditional juvenile jus logic but bad history. tice system. Such a movement repre In view of this, do today's innovasents more than a change of program, tions merit the support of well-meanbut a change in concept as well. In ing citizens as progressive steps in the short, the movement claims to recog treatment of the youngster? Or are nize that the central focus of correc they alternatives to current means of tions is the impact which programs social control but with the same end? have on the juvenile's relationship to As is true with all social reforms, withthe community and its institutions and out careful evaluation there is a danthat this task is best implemented ger of equating change with effectivethrough programs located in the com