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Juvenile Delinquency In The 19th Century

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Historically, by the 18th century, children below the age of 7 were considered to be incapable of criminal intent and were presumed exempt from punishment. With a drastic rise in juvenile delinquency, by the 19th-century there was creation of the juvenile court in the U.S. which had its roots from a 16th-century European educational reform movement (Bilchik 1999). The reformers who supported these institutions aimed at protecting these juvenile offenders by separating from adult offenders. They also focused on rehabilitation by trying to help young offenders avoid a future life of crime. As a result, juveniles who break the law should be treated differently from adults due to their immature mental and physical capacities. Consequently, with

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