Abstract

Three out of every four contacts between juveniles and law enforcement agencies in the United States never reach the courtroom. Half are disposed of by the police without a court referral. Of the remaining half—about 1,112,500 cases in 1972—59 percent are disposed of nonjudicially, by intake workers in the juvenile court system. These statistics illustrate the importance of police and intake activities and suggest the degree of discretion exercised by persons performing  those functions. Intake workers make many of the decisions affecting youths who come to juvenile court: they screen out referrals inappropriate for court attention and give counseling services without adjudication to conserve judicial energy and to avoid marking youths with the stigma of a court record.

This portion of Juvenile Justice in Arizona concentrates on ways in which referring agencies and intake workers do or can exercise their discretion consistently, so as to afford children entering juvenile court the due process and equal protection the law demands. Although discretion presents one focus for legal study of intake processes, other issues emerge as well. Among these are probable cause to arrest a juvenile, the presence of counsel and his role in intake, confessions and Miranda warnings in intake interviews, and the functions of the intake interview.

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