- The Oxford Handbooks in Criminology and Criminal Justice
- The Oxford Handbook of Juvenile Crime and Juvenile Justice
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- Juvenile Delinquents and Juvenile Justice Clientele: Trends and Patterns in Crime and Justice System Response
- Heterogeneity in Delinquency
- The Victim-Offender Overlap and Its Implications for Juvenile Justice
- Personal Characteristics of Delinquents: Neurobiology, Genetic Predispositions, Individual Psychosocial Attributes
- Adolescent Development, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice
- Delinquency and Comorbid Conditions
- Predictors of Violent Young Offenders
- Linking Family Processes and Adolescent Delinquency: Issues, Theories, and Research Findings
- Schools and Delinquency
- The Social Side of Delinquent Behavior
- Gang Delinquency
- Communities and Delinquency
- Strain and Delinquency
- Social Learning Theory
- An Emergent Situational and Transactional Theory of Urban Youth Violence
- Legal Socialization and Delinquency
- Understanding Desistance from Juvenile Offending: Challenges and Opportunities
- Delinquency Prevention
- The Elusive Juvenile Court: Its Origins, Practices, and Re-Inventions
- Racial and Ethnic Differences in Delinquency and Justice System Responses
- The Conundrum of Girls and Juvenile Justice Processing
- Competence and Criminal Responsibility in Adolescent Defendants: The Roles of Mental Illness and Adolescent Development
- Policing Juveniles
- The Front End of the Juvenile Court: Intake and Informal versus Formal Processing
- Varieties of Juvenile Court: Nonspecialized Courts, Teen Courts, Drug Courts, and Mental Health Courts
- Detention
- Procedural Rights in Juvenile Courts: Competence and Consequences
- Restoration, Shame, and the Future of Restorative Practice in U.S. Juvenile Justice
- Probation and Other Noninstitutional Treatment: The Evidence Is In
- Juvenile Corrections: An Overview
- Examining the Effectiveness of Juvenile Residential Programs
- Transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Court
- Youth in Prison and Beyond
- Juvenile Justice Cross-Nationally Considered
- Trends in Juvenile Justice Policy and Practice
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This article is focused on front-end processing in the juvenile court. The front end of juvenile justice refers to initial court decisions about how to process cases. The article discusses how the traditional mission of the juvenile court, which emphasizes punishment, treatment and services, and individualized attention, contributes to the goals and structure of front-end decision-making. Following this, it reveals two critical front-end activities: screening and assessment and informal and formal processing encompassing the roles of intake officers and prosecutors in these activities and how they comport with the juvenile court's traditional mission. Furthermore, it explores the stakes involved in front-end decision-making, including the potential impacts on how cases are processed and describes the implications of front-end processing for policy and practice. It concludes with a call for better monitoring of and research on front-end juvenile court processing and its impacts on recidivism, juvenile crime rates, and other outcomes.
Keywords: front-end processing, justice, court, juvenile court, policy, practice, juvenile crime
Daniel P. Mears is Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University.
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- The Oxford Handbooks in Criminology and Criminal Justice
- The Oxford Handbook of Juvenile Crime and Juvenile Justice
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- Juvenile Delinquents and Juvenile Justice Clientele: Trends and Patterns in Crime and Justice System Response
- Heterogeneity in Delinquency
- The Victim-Offender Overlap and Its Implications for Juvenile Justice
- Personal Characteristics of Delinquents: Neurobiology, Genetic Predispositions, Individual Psychosocial Attributes
- Adolescent Development, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice
- Delinquency and Comorbid Conditions
- Predictors of Violent Young Offenders
- Linking Family Processes and Adolescent Delinquency: Issues, Theories, and Research Findings
- Schools and Delinquency
- The Social Side of Delinquent Behavior
- Gang Delinquency
- Communities and Delinquency
- Strain and Delinquency
- Social Learning Theory
- An Emergent Situational and Transactional Theory of Urban Youth Violence
- Legal Socialization and Delinquency
- Understanding Desistance from Juvenile Offending: Challenges and Opportunities
- Delinquency Prevention
- The Elusive Juvenile Court: Its Origins, Practices, and Re-Inventions
- Racial and Ethnic Differences in Delinquency and Justice System Responses
- The Conundrum of Girls and Juvenile Justice Processing
- Competence and Criminal Responsibility in Adolescent Defendants: The Roles of Mental Illness and Adolescent Development
- Policing Juveniles
- The Front End of the Juvenile Court: Intake and Informal versus Formal Processing
- Varieties of Juvenile Court: Nonspecialized Courts, Teen Courts, Drug Courts, and Mental Health Courts
- Detention
- Procedural Rights in Juvenile Courts: Competence and Consequences
- Restoration, Shame, and the Future of Restorative Practice in U.S. Juvenile Justice
- Probation and Other Noninstitutional Treatment: The Evidence Is In
- Juvenile Corrections: An Overview
- Examining the Effectiveness of Juvenile Residential Programs
- Transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Court
- Youth in Prison and Beyond
- Juvenile Justice Cross-Nationally Considered
- Trends in Juvenile Justice Policy and Practice
- Index
