Ralph A. Rossum

Juvenile Justice Professionals: Opponents of Reform

My argument is straightforward. America’s juvenile justice system is failing abysmally, and the burgeoning rate of serious juvenile crime is evidence of this. The failure is exacerbated by demographic trends and the growth of what criminologist John J. DiIulio calls ‘moral poverty’ (1995, p. 25). At bottom, however, this failure can be traced to systemic defects in America’s century-old juvenile justice system; not only has the treatment model on which it is based always been unjust and ineffectual, but it is also wholly incapable of responding to the level of serious and violent juvenile crime the United States is experiencing today and the even higher levels it will experience in the next 10 to 15 years. America’s current juvenile justice system — or what I believe is better described as America’s ‘juvenile injustice system’ (Rossum, 1995) — must be fundamentally reformed, but that reform has been and will continue to be stymied by the opposition of those juvenile justice professionals who operate the current system and have a vested interest in its perpetuation.