Supporting Your Adolescent: Tips For Parents
Glossary of Terms
This glossary provides you with definitions of terms that you may encounter as you seek assistance for your child. Note that words in italic are defined in this glossary.
Acquittal: Judgment of the court that a person is not guilty of the offense(s) for which he or she has been tried. The judgment is made by a jury or a judicial officer.
Adjudicate: To settle a case by judicial procedure.
Adjudication hearing: Stage in juvenile court proceedings in which arguments, testimony, and evidence are presented to determine whether a youth actually committed the alleged offense.
Aftercare: Control, supervision, and care exercised over youth after they leave community-based programs or are released from juvenile facilities. Aftercare may include probation, counseling, enrollment in a community program, or other forms of treatment. Aftercare services are designed to support young people's return to their families and communities and to lessen the chance that they will get in trouble again.
Child abuse: Behavior directed toward a child by an adult that harms a child's physical or emotional health and development. Child abuse includes four major categories: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect.
Chin or Cin: Commonly used abbreviation for "child in need of supervision."
Classification: Process through which the educational, vocational, treatment, and security needs of a youth offender are determined.
Commitment: Action of a judicial officer ordering that a young person who has been alleged or judged to have committed an offense be placed in a particular kind of confinement or community residential program.
Correctional facility: Facility for the confinement of individuals accused or convicted of criminal or delinquent activity.
Delinquent offense: An act committed by a youth that would be a crime if committed by an adult. Examples include assault, burglary, or possession of illegal drugs.
Dependency case: A case in which neglect or physical, sexual, or emotional abuse of a young person by a parent is alleged.
Dependent: A legal term denoting a young person who is alleged to have been neglected or physically, sexually, or emotionally abused by a parent and has come to the attention of the court.
Detention: Temporary confinement of a youth alleged to be delinquent pending pretrial release, juvenile court proceedings, or disposition.
Disposition: The decision reached concerning a young person's case. Examples include, but are not limited to, a juvenile court judge's decision to dismiss the case or to order a young person to participate in a drug treatment program or perform community service. Juvenile court case dispositions fall into the following categories:
- Dismissal: An order of the court disposing of a case without conducting a trial of the issues. Dismissal may occur when there is a finding of insufficient evidence to bring the matter to trial, when no more decisions or actions are anticipated, or when the case is already being handled by another court.
- Placement: Removing a youth found to have committed an offense from the home and placing him or her elsewhere for a specified period of time, such as in a juvenile or other facility.
- Probation: Placing a youth found to have committed an offense under the supervision of the court. During probation, the young person must maintain good behavior, not commit another offense, and meet any other conditions the court may deem appropriate to impose.
- Probation before judgment: Placing a youth found to have committed an offense on probation before the judge makes a final decision. Successful completion of the probation period results in a complete dismissal of the charges without any finding of involvement by the young person in the offense.
- Transfer or waiver to adult criminal court: Transfer of a young person's case to a court normally used to try adults for violations of criminal law, such as murder, rape, robbery, burglary, or distribution of illegal drugs. A juvenile's case usually is transferred to adult criminal court because of the serious nature of the alleged offense.
- Other: A youth found to have committed an offense may be given a disposition other than a commitment or probation, such as requiring participation in a drug abuse treatment system, payment of fines, or performance of community service.
Disposition hearing: Hearing held after the adjudication hearing in which the judge determines the disposition of a young person's case.
Diversion: Channeling young people into programs as an alternative to processing their cases through the juvenile court. A youth, for example, might be referred to a community service program to perform volunteer work to "repay" the community.
Drug testing: Examination of a person's urine samples to determine the presence or absence of certain drugs.
Emotional abuse: Verbally mistreating or withholding positive emotional support from a child. Emotional abuse involves an adult speaking to a child in ways that are intended to demean, shame, threaten, blame, intimidate, or unfairly criticize the child.
Group home: A nonsecure program in which a group of young people live and receive services at the program facility under the supervision of adult staff. Group homes emphasize family- style living in a homelike atmosphere. Although many youth living in group homes are ordered there by the court, group homes may also house abused or neglected youth who are placed there by social service agencies.
Hearing: A court proceeding to decide on a course of action or to determine a young person's involvement or noninvolvement in an offense. Arguments, witnesses, and evidence are heard by a judicial officer or administrative body in making the decision.
Holistic or wraparound services: In the wraparound service approach, a team of professionals from different disciplines works with a young person and his or her family to offer services that meet their specific needs. The team also may work with the family in a location that is comfortable for the family, for example, at their home or at the young person's school.
Intake/arrest: Action of taking a youth into police custody for the purpose of charging him or her with a delinquent act. The juvenile justice process often begins with an investigation by a police officer, either because he or she observes a delinquent act being committed or because such an act is reported. The police officer will generally take one of three actions at intake or arrest: (1) release the youth to his or her parents with a warning or reprimand, (2) release the youth to the parents under the condition that the youth enroll in a community diversion program, or (3) keep the youth in custody and refer the matter to the juvenile court's intake officer for further processing.
Intake decision: Recommendation made by the juvenile court's intake officer to either handle the case informally or schedule the case for a hearing in juvenile court.
Intake hearing: Early stage in juvenile court proceedings in which an intake officer decides to either handle the case informally or schedule the case for a juvenile court hearing.
Intake officer: An official who receives, reviews, and processes cases in which a young person is alleged to have committed an offense. The intake officer can recommend either handling the case informally or scheduling the case for a hearing in juvenile court. The intake officer may also provide referrals for juveniles and their families to other community agencies.
Interstate Compact on Juveniles: An accord signed in 1955 between all State governments that regulates how States handle youth who have committed a status or delinquent offense and are picked up by police outside of their home State.
Juvenile: A young person at or below the upper age of juvenile court authority, as defined in the local jurisdiction. In most States, young people age 18 or younger fall under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.
Juvenile court: A court with authority over cases involving individuals under a specified age, usually 18 years.
Mandatory release: Release from an institution required by law when an individual has been confined for a period equal to his or her full sentence minus time for good behavior, if any.
Mediation: An alternative to a court proceeding in which a neutral person assists two or more people to resolve a conflict and reach a solution acceptable to all sides.
Medicaid: A Federal program that provides funds for medical services for people with low incomes.
Neglect: Failure by a parent to provide for the basic needs of a child, such as for shelter, food, or clothing.
Nonpetitioned (informally handled) case: A case decided by juvenile court intake officers rather than through a hearing in juvenile court.
Nonresidential program: Program that provides services to youth who live at home and report to the program on a daily basis or as scheduled. Young people in such a program require more attention than that provided by probation and aftercare services. Often the program operates its own education program through the local school district.
Petition: The formal charging document filed in juvenile court alleging that a youth has committed a status or delinquent offense or is a dependent. A petition asks that the court hear the young person's case or, in certain delinquency cases, that the court transfer the case to adult criminal court so that the young person can be prosecuted as an adult.
Petitioned (formally handled) case: A case handled through a hearing in juvenile court or transferred to adult criminal court.
Physical abuse: Physical punishment of a child by an adult that is unreasonable in light of the age, condition, and disposition of the child and other surrounding circumstances.
Placement: Removing a youth found to have committed an offense from the home and placing him or her elsewhere for a period, such as in a juvenile facility or group home.
Predisposition investigation: Investigation into the background and character of a young person who has been determined to have committed a delinquent offense. The investigation collects information that will assist the court in determining the most appropriate disposition.
Probation: Placing a youth found to have committed an offense under the supervision of the court. During probation, the young person must maintain good behavior, not commit another offense, and meet any other conditions the court may deem appropriate to impose.
Probation before judgment: Placing a youth found to have committed an offense on probation before the judge makes a final decision. Successful completion of the probation period results in a complete dismissal of the charges without any finding of involvement by the young person in the offense.
Recidivism: Repetition of criminal behavior.
Residential program: Program in which youth live on site in program housing. Residential programs do not have the security fences and security hardware typically associated with correctional or detention facilities. A residential program, for example, could be located in a converted apartment building or a single-family home.
Runaway or emergency shelter: A center that provides services to address the immediate needs of runaway youth for food, clothing, and shelter.
Sexual abuse: Includes incest, sexual molestation, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism, and other acts of sexual exploitation carried out toward a child. Such abuse may be nonphysical, for example, obscene phone calls or indecent exposure, or physical, for example, fondling or intercourse.
Shelter care: Any nonsecure public or private facility that provides either (1) temporary placement for alleged or adjudicated status offenders prior to the issuance of a disposition order or (2) longer term care under a juvenile court disposition order.
Status offenses: Behavior that is considered an offense only if carried out by a young person. Status offenses are handled only by the juvenile court and include the following:
- Curfew violation: Breaking a regulation requiring young people to leave the streets or be at home at a prescribed hour
- Running away: Leaving the home of parents, guardians, or custodians without permission for an extended period
- Status liquor law violations: Violating laws restricting the possession, purchase, or consumption of liquor by minors
- Truancy: Failing to attend school
Training schools, camps, and ranches: Nonsecure residential programs providing services to youth. Training schools also are known as youth development centers, youth villages, youth treatment centers, youth service centers, or schools or homes for boys or girls. Camps and ranches generally are located in relatively remote or rural areas. Camps have structured programs that emphasize outdoor work, including conservation and related activities. On ranches, youth usually participate in a structured program of education, recreation, and facility maintenance, including responsibility for the physical plant, its equipment, and livestock.
Transfer or waiver to adult criminal court: Transfer of a young person's case to a court normally used to try adults for violations of criminal law, such as murder, rape, robbery, burglary, or distribution of illegal drugs. A juvenile's case is transferred to adult criminal court usually because of the serious nature of the alleged offense.
Valid court order: Order of a juvenile court judge. A juvenile court hearing, for example, might result in a young person receiving a valid court order to receive counseling.
Violation of a valid court order: Failure of a status offender to comply with an order of the court, such as to receive counseling. In such cases, the court may place the child in custody.
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