Juvenile Court: The Fallacies of a Hopeful System

-- By DavidGarfinkel - 25 Feb 2010

During the summer between my third and fourth year of college, I served as a volunteer law clerk for one of the District Attorney’s Juvenile offices. This was my first true introduction to criminal justice, entering with an optimistic mindset about the potentials of this special branch. By the end of the summer, I had become cynical and pessimistic. The purpose of this essay is to question the efficacy of juvenile courts upon examining the outcomes of the system and the potentially true purposes of juvenile justice in light of the contrast between its ideals and actual process. Part of this analysis will be based on my own observations while working for the DA, including my later work in the sex crimes/family violence unit. Unsurprisingly, some of the analysis could also be easily applied to criminal justice in general and other facets of it, like capital punishment.

Section I

Subsection A

Subsub 1

Subsection B

Subsub 1

Subsub 2

Section II

Subsection A

Subsection B