to only deal with criminal youth would make the court function like an adult criminal court rather than a 
rehabilitative parental figure. Within a couple of years of its founding, amendments to the Illinois Juvenile 
Court Act broadened the definition of delinquency to include incorrigible youth, or otherwise unruly and 
out of the control of their parents. 
2 The definition of juvenile delinquency now included status offenses or 
offenses that are only illegal because of the age of the offender. Examples include: drinking alcohol, running 
away, ungovernability, truancy (skipping school), and curfew violations. Overall,  the juvenile justice system 
is responsible for youth who are considered dependent, neglected, incorrigible, delinquent, and/or status 
offenders. 
Podcast: Caught 
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/589480586/caught 
The purpose of the original court was to act in a rehabilitative ideal. The main function was to emphasize 
reform and treatment over punishment and punitive action. 
3 Terminology in the court is even different, 
to denote the separate nature from the adversarial adult processes. To initiate the juvenile court process, a 
petition is filed “in the welfare of the child,” whereas this is called an indictment in the adult criminal process. 
The proceedings of juvenile courts are referred to as “hearings,” instead of trials, as in adult courts. Juvenile 
courts find youths to be “delinquent,” rather than criminal or guilty of an offense, and juvenile delinquents 
are given a “disposition,” instead of a sentence, as in adult criminal courts. 
2. Feld, B.C. (1999). Bad Kids: Race and the Transformation of the Juvenile Court. New York: Oxford University Press. 
3. Feld, B.C. (1999). Bad Kids: Race and the Transformation of the Juvenile Court. New York: Oxford University Press. 
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