Delinquent children fro 10 ½ to 14 years of age were punishable only if the prosecution could prove intent, and persons 14 to 25 could receive capital and other punishments as readily as adults (Simonsen, 1991 p. 13).
During 1828, the first facility for juvenile delinquents in the United States came into reality. It had taken over five years of careful planning and strategy for public support on the part of the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, which went on to become the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents in New York City. The idea was to supply juveniles with a place of incarceration or sentence that would separate them for adults. As a result, it did not provide separate kinds of punishments. A routine day in the house of refuge was not unlike a child's routine day in one of our modern youth prisons. "The refuge movement spread north to Boston and south to Baltimore and became the public-private merger solution to the growing number of homeless and troublesome street kids. As it spread, cruel and archaic practices spread with it. What started as a good idea based on real and pressing needs became, in the hands of people interested more in their hobs and an image of order, very much like what it was designed to replace-(Cole, 1972 p. xviii). .
The general procedures for handling juvenile delinquents are: Arrest, Intake, adjudication, disposition and aftercare. .
Arrest .
The juvenile justice process often begins with an investigation by a police officer either because he or she observers a law violation or because a violation is reported (Simonsen, 1991, p. 195).
Intake.
The intake officer is responsible for determining whether or not a case should move ahead for further court processing.
The intake officer may recommend that a petition be filed, equivalent to filing a charge and then refer the case to the juvenile court prosecutor. .
The juvenile may be detained but the decision is reviewed by a judge or a court administrator at a juvenile court detention hearing (Ibid).