Problem:
Before the establishment of the juvenile justice system, the legal system treated juveniles as adults and, in many instances, juvenile offenders received the same punishment as adults. However, at the dawn of the twentieth century, the Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899 started legislation that separated juveniles from the adult system. With that in mind, discuss why the juvenile justice system was created and we treat juveniles different than adults? Why is this especially a concern when a juvenile has broken the law?