Juvenile Justice: How the Theory of Rehabilitation Influences Procedural Protections and Punishment in Juvenile and Criminal Courts

There is a general consensus that when children are accused of committing criminal offenses, the main goal is rehabilitation. In order to achieve this goal, separate juvenile courts have been created with different punishments and procedures. However, children can still be tried in criminal court. This paper compares the procedural protections and punishments used in juvenile and criminal courts and analyzes how both court systems have failed to adequately rehabilitate juvenile offenders. It also looks abroad at international standards and other countries\u27 juvenile reform efforts for inspiration on how to reform juvenile justice in the United States to better achieve its goal of rehabilitating juvenile offenders