Determining Jurisdiction of Juveniles in Delinquency Cases

Name

Institution

In delinquency cases, intake is the first part of screening cases referred to the juvenile court that determines how they will be handled. The juvenile probation department is responsible for carrying out the juvenile court intake which is a very discrete process. In this process, four options are common. They include case dismissal, informal processing by the probation officer, formal processing by the juvenile court normally referred to as adjudication, and diversion for nonjudicial handling through community based services (Burfeind and Bartusch, 2011). In most jurisdictions, intake screening entails three important determinations. The first is a legal determination of probable cause. This process helps to determine if the case has admissible facts and information to warrant formal processing of the case in a juvenile court. Secondly is the analysis of the facts of the case to find out if the juvenile court has jurisdiction to handle the case. This is important since contemporary juvenile courts do not always have original jurisdiction to handle juvenile matters. Two trends limit the original jurisdiction of many juvenile courts (Burfeind and Bartusch, 2011). They include statutory exclusion of certain offences and offenders and concurrent jurisdiction that allows prosecutor’s discretion in filing certain types of cases in either criminal or juvenile courts. Thirdly an analysis is carried out to find out if processing by the juvenile court is in the best interest of the child. Lastly, the process tries to determine if processing by the juvenile court is in the best interests of the community (Burfeind and Bartusch, 2011).

The factors involved in making this determination include the type and seriousness of the offence, age, degree of harm to the victim, parental response to the offence, legal history, and the victim’s reaction to the incidence. These factors impact the decision process by determining whether the case will be formally or informally handled (May, 2008).

References

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” Burfeind, J. W., & Bartusch, D. J. (2011).Juvenile delinquency: an integrated approach.

Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” May, D. C. (2008). Corrections and the criminal justice system. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and

Bartlett Pub..