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13 Hamline J. Pub. L. & Pol'y 241 (1992)
Public Attitudes toward Juvenile Crime and Juvenile Justice: Implications for Public Policy

handle is hein.journals/hplp13 and id is 247 raw text is: PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD JUVENILE CRIME AND JUVENILE JUSTICE: IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY Ira M. Schwartz* Shenyang Guo John Johnson Kerbs I. ABSTRACT This paper reports on selected findings from the first comprehensive national survey on public attitudes towards juvenile crime and juvenile jus- tice. An ordinal logistical regression model is used to assess the relation- ship between a number of independent variables and attitudes towards providing juveniles with due process protections, trying them in adult criminal courts, and sentencing them to adult prisons. One of the most interesting findings is that punitive attitudes towards juvenile offenders are significantly related to the fear of being victimized by a violent crime. In addition, the findings appear to have important implications for the future of the juvenile court and, indeed, the entire juvenile justice system. II. INTRODUCTION As a society, we have ambivalent views toward children and when they should be considered responsible for their own behavior and treated as adults. In no area is this ambivalence more apparent than in juvenile jus- tice. For example, there are significant differences between the states with respect to the maximum age ofjuvenile courtjurisdiction.I States differ in their policies regarding the circumstances under which juveniles can be tried in adult courts.2 Juvenile court delinquency proceedings are open to the public in some states and closed in others.3 Also, despite being rooted in the Parens Patriae4 philosophy, juvenile courts are becoming more pun- * The authors would like to thank Martha Smith, Danielle Hogston, and Cindy Guillean for their editorial assistance. 1. See generally IRA M. SCHWARTZ, (IN) JUSTICE FOR JUVENILES: RETHINKING THE BEST IN- TERESTS OF THE CHILD 30 (1989). 2. Barry Krisberg et al., The Watershed of Juvenile Justice Reform, 32 CRIME & DELINQ. 5, 9 (1986); see generally DEAN J. CHAMPION & G. LARRY MAYS, TRANSFERRING JUVENILES TO CRIMI- NAL COURTS: TRENDS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE (1991). 3. SCHWARTZ, supra note 1, at 161. 4. From its inception in 1899, the juvenile court was founded upon the parens patnae philosophy: As originally conceived in the late nineteenth century, juvenile courts were to be social welfare institutions designed to help rather than to punish children who have committed crimes. Instead of subjecting children to the rigors of formal criminal trials, the juvenile court dealt with them informally. In exchange for this informality,

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