According to Bankowski, (1980), when the juvenile court system was first introduced in my locality (Chicago), the hearing took the form of a conversation between the youth and the judge. There was no legal representation of the defendant. Today the juvenile court hearing procedures have drastically changed. For example, today once a peace officer or a probation officer has a reasonable cause to believe that a minor or a child committed an offence under the state laws or ordinances or state regulations then he or she may be the custodian of the child accused of the offense. It is important to note that, juvenile offenses appear in sealed documents, unlike adults offences which are open to public scrutiny under the Freedom of Information Act. Schwartz, (1999) explains that The US juvenile court systems allow a child to be released to the guardian, a parent or responsible upon agreement in writing that the relevant person. For some other offenses, the child may remain in custody for 12 hours. The law provides that, the child be detained in a secure place unless the;
1. The child is