Treatment of Juvenile Offenders: Diversion and Formal Processing

In this chapter, various means used to process juvenile offenders are considered. The juvenile court was created with the specific philosophy of serving as a parent substitute for those children in need of supervision and parental care. The underlying approach to the processing of juvenile offenders centers on the concept of minimizing the penetration of juvenile offenders into the juvenile justice system. Community-based diversion programs, such as police diversion, teen youth courts, school resource officer programs, and specialized treatment programs, for juveniles with problems related to substance abuse, sex offenses, and family violence have been created. Counseling programs for those juveniles housed in residential facilities are also considered.