Juvenile crime in generations past mostly consisted of the minor offenses that one would expect from juveniles, such as vandalism, school truancy, petty theft/shoplifting, possession of small amounts of recreational drugs, and the like. However, in the present, juvenile crime means much more than that. Statistics show an overall increase in violent crime among juveniles (rape, murder, major drug related violence, etc) over the past twenty-five years (Redding, 1999). These types of crimes have caused the juvenile justice system to evolve, not necessarily for the better. Since the 1980's the juvenile justice system has had to evolve to include life sentences for particularly violent offenders, special penalties for repeat offenders, increased numbers of juvenile correction facilities and more police, court officials, probation officers, etc. A

Overlap of the Juvenile and Adult Systems

Elements within the adult justice system have also grown to the point of bursting, much like the juvenile system. Within adult justice, we also see increases in the construction of prisons, additional police, court resources and probationary offices to accommodate the growing tide of adult offenders. This is a huge financial burden for the taxpaying public, and there seems to be no end in sight to the boom.

In closing, and in summary, it is clear that the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems are becoming more similar and continue to mesh as times and people change. There ill surely be more discussions and debates on this issue for years to come, but one thing is certain- there is enough crime for all ages to go around in our modern, chaotic criminal underworld.

Another important topic to consider within the subject of the juvenile justice system is the need for provisions to address the growing problem of repeat offenders. Because there is still an effort within juvenile justice to correct some offenders rather than simply punishing all of them. However, more and more, offenders are released as rehabilitated people and commit other offenses, finding themselves back in the works of the juvenile system. Due to these occurrences, the system has changed to provide harsher penalties for those who are repeat offenders. Rehabilitation does not always work, and sometimes even leads to more violent re-offenses (Steinberg, 2001).

A main similarity between the juvenile and adult justice systems is their exponential growth over the past

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