Adjudication: : A juvenile court decision, after a hearing, to uphold a petition by finding a child delinquent, a status offender, or dependent, or else to dismiss the petition and release the child.

Aftercare: : Supervision or treatment given children for a limited time after they are released from a correctional program, but still under the control of the juvenile court.

Child Abuse: : Willful causing of physical harm to a child. Frequently would bring the child under the protection of the juvenile court.

Child Neglect: : Willful failure to provide for one's child or ward adequate food, clothing, shelter, education, or supervision. Frequently would bring the child under protection of the juvenile court.

Deinstitutionalization: : Moving juveniles out of secure care facilities, detention centers, or jails and into community-based programs or into the community.

Delinquent: : A juvenile whom a judicial officer of a Juvenile court has adjudged to have committed a delinquent act.

Delinquent Act: : An act committed by a juvenile for which an adult could be prosecuted in a criminal court.

Dependency: : Legal status of juveniles over whom the court has assumed jurisdiction upon a finding that their care by parents or guardians has fallen short of proper standards.

Detention: : Holding a child in physically restrictive, secure facilities until court disposition or another court order (such as placement in a nonsecure facility while awaiting disposition).

Detention Center: : The locked ("secure") facility in which such children are detained.

Detention Hearing: : A proceeding before a judicial officer to determine whether a child is to be detained, continue to be detained, or released pending further juvenile court action.

Disposition: : The juvenile court's decision, after a petition is sustained, whether the child should be placed in a correctional facility, placed in a care or treatment program, be required to meet certain standards of conduct, or be released. A care program for a dependent child might be placement in a foster home.

Diversion: : Removing a juvenile from the formal justice system and referring the child to an agency outside the justice system for treatment or care. This step may be taken at any point in formal processing, from the initial custody to the adjudication phase.

Family Court: : A court of limited jurisdiction whose authority covers family matters such as neglect, delinquency, paternity, support, and noncriminal misbehavior.

Group Home: : Nonsecure residential facility for adjudicated juveniles intended to approximate family life and provide access to community activities.

Intake: : Process of receiving into the juvenile justice system a juvenile referred or taken into custody. At the intake stage, a decision must be made whether to file a petition in juvenile court, release the juvenile, place the juvenile under supervision, or refer to another private or governmental agency.

Juvenile Court: : A court of limited jurisdiction which holds original jurisdiction over persons defined by law as juveniles and alleged to be delinquents, status offenders, or dependent and in need of support.

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974: : Federal law establishing the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention within the U.S. Department of Justice to provide funds for the control and prevention of juvenile delinquency. Amended in 1977, 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992.

Parole: : Conditional release from a correctional institution, such as a training school, before the term of disposition expires, with supervision by the paroling authority.

Petition: : Document filed in juvenile court, usually by a prosecutor, asking that the court take jurisdiction over a juvenile alleged to be delinquent, a status offender, or dependent.

PINS, CHINS: : Person in need of supervision; child in need of supervision; various States use other similar designations. Juveniles found to be ungovernable, incorrigible, truant, or habitually disobedient; thus, "status offenders;" see "status offense" below.

Probation: : Conditional release of an adjudicated offender into the community, by court order and under court supervision, under specified conditions, for a set amount of time.

Residential Child Care Facility: : Dwelling other than a detention or shelter care facility that is licensed (or operated) by government to provide living accommodations, care, and treatment for children and youths. Includes foster homes, group homes, and halfway houses.

Restitution: : Compliance with a court order that an offender restore what a victim has lost through a crime or delinquency. Juveniles, ordered by the court to make restitution, may be required to pay back or repair damages to the property of their victims, or perform services to the community.

Runaway: : A juvenile whom a juvenile court has found to have committed the status offense of leaving the custody or home of parent or guardian without permission and without returning in a reasonable period of time.

Status Offense: : An act prohibited by statute, but only when committed by a juvenile, such as running away from home or truancy.

Take Into Custody: : Law officers' securing the physical custody of a juvenile alleged to be delinquent; comparable to the arrest of an adult.

Training School: : Correctional facility for juveniles committed to confinement by the juvenile court. Also called reform school.

Transfer or Waiver to Adult Court: : A juvenile court decision, after a hearing, to relinquish its jurisdiction and permit a juvenile to be tried as an adult in a criminal court. In some States, the prosecutor and not the court may decide to try juveniles for specified serious crimes in adult rather than Juvenile court. In others (e.g., New York), certain crimes are automatically tried in adult court unless that court waives the case back to juvenile court.