Also, under fourteen if it appear to the court and jury, that he could discern between good and evil, he may be convicted and suffer death. [ CITATION Bla69 l 1033 ].
Children under the age of seven were considered unable to be tried for a crime because they were deemed unable to understand the difference between right and wrong. Youth from eight to 14 existed in a "grey" area, and could be tried as adults if it seemed as though they understood that their actions were wrong. Individuals older than 14 years of age were tried as adults. This was held as the legal standard until the late 19th century, and little thought was spared to reasons underlying delinquency. Abject poverty, poor supervision, and few resources/opportunities drove many children to crime, and it should be noted that those causes hold true today.
In the late 19th century, the first facilities and services meant to handle young offenders were developed. These included the implementation of juvenile courts and juvenile probation services such as the Cook County Children's Court, established in 1899 [ CITATION May12 l 1033 ]. The 20th century saw these courts and probation services progress to a juvenile justice system. Youth crime began to rise towards the end of the century, and the demand for harsher sentences for young offenders saw the incarceration of youth in juvenile holding centers rise dramatically. It wasn't until the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st that this practice was halted and slowly reversed via social outcry and a number of sweeping reforms [ CITATION Bil97 l 1033 ]. While juveniles today can still be tried as adults, the frequency has been dramatically reduced. The majority of juveniles are tried by state juvenile courts, and offenders are typically sentenced to some kind of reform service, be it community service, educational classes, or probation. Juvenile justice centers exist to hold offenders that are not eligible for reform/reeducation initiatives.
