Throughout the history of childhood development poor social and economic conditions contributed to the many hardships and poor treatment of children. During the early Middle Ages the "paternalist" family concept evolved and the father had authority and control over family matters including the welfare and safety of his wife and children. Discipline was severe, young children both poor and wealthy were subjected to strict rules and regulations and often beaten if disobedient. Children took on the responsibilities of adults at an early age, sharing in the work of siblings and parents. Girls from affluent families were educated at home and married in their teens. Some males were educated at a monastery and others became apprentices to experienced knights. Children who were considered retarded or suffering from disease were abandoned to churches or orphanages. Relationships between parent and child were distant, and younger male and female siblings were considered "economic and social liabilities." (Siegel 10).
Custom and practices such as primogeniture and dower subjected many children to endure suffering and cruel treatment. These customs and practices often caused family rivalry, sometimes led to tragedy and had a significant impact on the role of women and children. Under primogeniture the oldest surviving male inherited family lands and titles. Younger siblings who were not fortunate to receive lands were forced to enter religious orders, become soldiers or seek wealthy patrons. Under the Dower system, a woman's family gave money, land or other wealth in exchange for a potential husband. This system "forced women into the role of second class citizens dependent on their fathers and brothers." Wet nurses took care of newb...
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...rs (mandatory sentences) and target hardening techniques (steering locks, unbreakable glass on storefronts). This approach is not consistent with the viewpoint guiding the juvenile court because this type of deterrence punishment interferes with "parens patriae" philosophy. Juveniles are treated more leniently than adults, which limit the power of the law to deter juvenile crime. (Siegel 96).
REFERENCES
Siegel, Larry J., Brandon C. Welsh and Joseph J. Senna. 2003. Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice, and Law. California: Thomson Wadsworth.
Hyperdictionary, (http://www.hyperdictionary.com/search.aspx?define=status+offenders)
Flowers, R. Barri. 2002. Kids Who Commit Adult Crimes Serious Criminality by Juvenile Offenders. New York: The Haworth Press.
Within the last five years, violent offenses by children have increased 68 percent, crimes such as: murder, rape, assault, and robbery. Honestly, with these figures, it is not surprising at all that the Juveniles Courts focus less on the children in danger, and focus more on dangerous children. This in fact is most likely the underlying reasoning behind juveniles being tried as adults by imposing harsher and stiffer sentences. However, these policies fail to recognize the developmental differences between young people and
Jenson, Jeffrey and Howard, Matthew. "Youth Crime, Public Policy, and Practice in the Juvenile Justice System: Recent Trends and Needed Reforms." Social Work 43 (1998): 324-32
It was also common for richer families to marry off their daughters sooner than poorer families. This was because poorer families needed as much help doing work as they could. Women had no choice in deciding who they got married to, and once married they would be controlled by their husband (Trueman, “Medieval Women”).
There is no single set of beliefs about children; childhood is a social and cultural construct. Social constructionism is concerned with ideas about children, not facts about them. Indeed, many social constructionists would deny the existence of any universal facts about children (Woodhead and Montgomery 2003:46). Ideas about children change because they are dependent on their social, cultural and historical context. The ideas held concerning children have consequences, they affect the way children are treated and thought about (James and James 2008:122). Postman (1994) believes that childhood in its’ current conception is ‘disappearing.’ The following text will critically discuss Postman’s (1994) theory, principally it will consider the role he give to the media, secrets, violence against children and children’s games.
Larry J. Siegel, Brandon C. Welsh. "Juvenile Delinquency Theory, Practice, and Law." Linda Schreiber Ganster, n.d. 549.
Stemming from models developed in Rome under Marcus Aurelius and Florence’s Innocenti, orphans were first nursed by peasant women, then adopted or apprenticed by the time they were seven or eight years old (Simpson 136). Care of the orphans (and also the sick, the poor, the elderly, and the mentally ill) was first the responsibility of the church, but with increased legislation, the responsibility gradually fell under the state (Simpson 137). Pennsylvania passed such a “poor law” in 1705, establishing an “Overseer of the Poor” for each township. Each overseer was responsible for finding funds for children and more commonly, for finding positions of servitude or apprenticeship (7). Such a model of short-term care followed by adoption, apprenticeship, or indentured servitude became the standard for dealing with orphaned children. The development of specific orphanages or child asylums, however, did not come until later in the nineteenth century. Orphaned children were first treated in almshouses, first established in Philadelphia in 1731 (7). Poorhouses, workhouses, and almshouses, all essentially the same institution, housed both adults and children without homes. Residents were seen as nearly free sources of labor, working in sweatshops or nearby mines in the case of several British poorhouses (5).
Cox, S. M., Allen, J. M., Hanser, R. D., & Conrad, J. J. (2014). Juvenile Justice A Guide to Theory, Policy and Practice (8th ed.). Sage publications Inc.
Thompson, W, & Bynum, J. (1991). Juvenile delinquency. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The United States has been affected by a number of crimes committed by juveniles. The juvenile crime rate has been increasing in recent years. Everyday more juveniles commit crimes for various reasons. They act as adults when they are not officially adults. There is a discussion about how juveniles should be punished if they commit heinous crimes. While many argue that juveniles who commit serious crimes, such as murder, should be treated as adults, the fact is, juveniles under the age of eighteen, are not adults, and should not be treated as such.
A very common fate of orphans was adoption. They were often taken in by relatives or neighbors, and even, on occasion, strangers wishing to raise them as their own children. In England, there were no laws concerning adoption until the 1920s, so most adoption was informal. Children who were adopted by their own social class were usually treated fairly and equally… however, if they were adopted by a family whose status was above and beyond their original class, they were frequently mistreated and neglected. Children of different social classes were not encouraged to fraternize, so if an orphan was taken into a household where higher class children lived, they could be forbidden to even speak to them (Czarnik).
Much controversy exists on the question of whether a juvenile criminal should be punished to the same extent as an adult. Those who commit capitol crimes, including adolescents, should be penalized according to the law. Age should not be a factor in the case of serious crimes. Many people claim that the child did not know any better, or that he was brought up with the conception that this behavior is acceptable. Although there is some truth to these allegations, the reality of this social issue is far more complex. Therefore we ask the question, "Should childhood offenders of capitols crimes be treated as adults?"
Thompson, W. E. and Bynum J. E. (2010). Juvenile Delinquency: A sociological Approach Eighth Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Loeber R., and D.P. Farrington. “Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions.” Thousand Oaks. 1998. First Search. Feb 2007
A hundred and sixteen orphans and paupers left a London orphan hospital on a single day to supply the demands of northern textile mills. While the best orphan institutions made reasonable efforts to ensure that only good masters received children, there was no follow up on the progress and treatment of the infants, and their welfare was unknown to the disinterested that farmed them out. Men altogether unfitted for the care of children were given helpless innocents. Some masters obtained certification of good character by dishonesty, and treated children with barbarity and, in many cases, murderous cruelty.
Bridges, K. M. Banham . "Factors Contributing to Juvenile Delinquency." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 17.4 (1927): 531-76. scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.