The juvenile justice system rests on the goal of rehabilitating rather than punishing youthful offenders. Since the system’s founding in Illinois in 1899, every state has followed suit and adopted a separate set of proceedings for juvenile offenders. States did so on the legal premise that they assume the role of parens patriae and provide a variety of sentencing alternatives that foster rehabilitation. These alternatives range from a court’s supervision of a juvenile, to transfers of custody to a foster home or other facility designed for juvenile offenders, and to a variety of programs that can help youth move away from delinquent activities. The state intervenes as parens patriaeand assumes custody of youth if parents or guardians fail in their supervisory role and their children are found to be delinquent. Since juvenile courts act in the child’s best interests and merely transfer custody from the parents or other guardians to the state, the legal proceedings are deemed civil...