"Need" and "Overt Act" in Juvenile Court Law

Abstract

The current trend of academic analysis of the juvenile court as a treatment organization and the emphasis on treatment aspects of juvenile court activities have led to a popular assump tion that the court applies a criterion of need in dispensing its services. A traditional legal analysis would suggest the applica tion of a criterion of overt act. Even if we assume that the intention of juvenile court legislation is to apply some criterion of need, the question then becomes one of how needs are demonstrated or measured. A criterion of demonstrated need brings one full circle to a requirement of overt act.