This paper discusses the similarities and differences between the juvenile courts and adult criminal courts. In addition, it reviews Ohio State’s juvenile justice department with regard to the protections offered for juveniles and how these compare to protections offered to the adult population.

While many similarities exist between the adult and juvenile courts and justice systems, the juvenile courts are characterised by a historically-determined difference in approach, whereby a major intent is to rehabilitate rather than punish the offender (Gaines and Miller, 2015, p. 415). With regard to the juvenile courts in particular, this results in several differences in approach and method. For example, Gaines and Miller describe the juvenile judge’s primary role in sentencing as focused on the “needs of the child” (Gaines and Miller, 2015, p. 415), with judges leaning more towards leniency and corrective measures rather than punitive measures. With juvenile proceedings closed to the press and the public, and with punitive measures such as the death penalty prohibited, the juvenile justice system places greater emphasis than the adult criminal justice system does on the potential of the child to become a productive member of society. Nevertheless, the adult and juvenile systems share many similarities, with basic rights to privacy, representation, and procedural protection protected in both, although to varying degrees (Gaines and Miller, 2015, p. 415).

In Ohio, juvenile justice is handled by the Ohio Department of Youth Services; this department exemplifies the focus on rehabilitation that characterises the juvenile justice system in general. The Ohio DYS website describes a system focused on encouraging “positive change” (Ohio Department of Youth Services, 2016, n.p.). The facilities managed by Ohio DYS offer year-round schooling in both the general curriculum and vocational courses, whilst also operating community programmes as preventative measures (Ohio Department of Youth Services, 2016, n.p.). What this focus on education and opportunity indicates is the extent to which the Ohio DYS protects the futures of the children it is charged with. By concentrating on preventative measures to reduce juvenile crime and on rehabilitation programmes to prevent children from re-offending, Ohio DYS protects the child from punitive measures which might result in criminal behaviour later in life.

There is a marked contrast between the Ohio Department of Youth Services and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, which deals with adult criminal justice. While the department offers programs geared towards rehabilitation, re-entry into society, and education, the website offers very little information concerning the idealistic mission regarding adult offenders. Instead, the information offered primarily concerns incarceration, and the protection of the offender’s right to visitation, appeals, parole, and so forth (Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, 2016, n.p.). The mission statement, “to reduce crime in Ohio” (Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, 2016, n.p.), makes it clear that the focus of the department is in protecting society from the harmful actions that offenders might commit in the future, and while a small proportion of this protection may take the form of rehabilitation efforts, the majority of that protection involves the segregation and punishment of the offender. Unlike the Department of Youth Services, therefore, while the statutory rights of the adult offender are protected just as they are for the juvenile, the future of the adult offender is offered very little protection.

Using Ohio as an example, then, it is clear to see that the major difference between the juvenile courts and the adult criminal courts is the emphasis placed on rehabilitation the child for a productive future as part of society, as opposed to the emphasis placed on protecting society from the re-offence of adult offenders. While the statutory rights of both adults and children are protected in both adult and juvenile systems, the juvenile systems go further in protecting the future opportunities of child offenders as well.