''Juvies'' is an

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

( Calamari Productions), and later

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

television show following minors in the

Lake County, Indiana Lake County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 2020, its population was 498,700, making it Indiana's List of counties in Indiana, second-most populous county. The county seat is Crown Point, Indiana, C ...

Juvenile Justice Complex. The series' first and only season debuted on MTV in February 2007, and has re-aired regularly since. On July 30, 2008, the ''NWI Times'' reported that production was underway for another documentary series also to be filmed at the Lake County Juvenile Justice Complex in Crown Point, Indiana. The MSNBC version, re-branded as "Lockup - Lake County Juvenile Justice," takes a deeper look at the inner workings of the LCJC detention and court systems, and it ventures into other correctional facilities in Indiana, and premiered on MSNBC on July 4, 2009 at 10:00 E.T.

Overview

Both the MTV and MSNBC versions of Juvies depict what happens to offenders in the

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Juvenile Justice Juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal systems, chi ...

system. The show features a behind the scenes look at the detention center and court process as it follows kids charged with committing relatively minor offenses such as

underage drinking The legal drinking age is the minimum age at which a person can legally consume alcoholic beverages. The minimum age alcohol can be legally consumed can be different from the age when it can be purchased in some countries. These laws vary betwee ...

, minor

theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

use, running away, etc. Each episode follows two youths from their initial intake in the detention center to their " Detention Hearing" where a

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

hears evidence on whether to keep the child detained, or release the child to their parents or elsewhere, pending a trial on the underlying charges. The series does not cover the trial on the charges themselves, however a brief epilogue appears at the end of each hour-long episode updating viewers on the eventual outcome of the case. They have some special shorts called Life After Juvies on MTV, where it shows how the child is doing after being a

juvie Juvie or juvies commonly refer to: * Juvenile (organism), a juvie * Juvenile hall (the juvie), a youth detention center * Juvenile delinquent (a juvie), a minor person detained there Juvie or juvies may also refer to: Stage and screen * ''Juvi ...

. The unprecedented access (including voluminous amounts of

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

footage) to the juvenile court system, which is typically closed, was obtained by Calamari Productions from the

Indiana Supreme Court The Indiana Supreme Court, established by Article 7 of the Indiana Constitution, is the highest judicial authority in the state of Indiana. Located in Indianapolis, the Court's chambers are in the north wing of the Indiana Statehouse. In Dec ...

. The song "Sometimes Your Best Isn't Good Enough", performed by The Churchills, is the theme of the show.

Cast

Judge

All of the featured children appear before Lake County Indiana

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Mary Beth Bonaventura.

Defense attorneys

Each child is represented at their detention hearing by a

defense attorney A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...

- either an appointed

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...

or private attorney hired by the family. The Lake County Juvenile Court uses part time

public defenders A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...

who also maintain private law practices. Attorneys who appear in episodes on behalf of the children include Donald Wruck, a trial lawyer at Wruck Paupore PC, and solo practitioners, Geoff Giorgi, and Deidre Monroe.

Prosecuting attorneys

The State of Indiana is represented by a deputy prosecuting attorney, who elicits testimony and presents evidence in support of the charges pending against the child. However, because the hearings depicted on "MTV Juvies" are detention hearings, the issues are limited to whether the child should be detained awaiting trial. The deputy prosecuting attorney appearing in several episodes is Kathy Guzek.

Episodes

Ratings

The show achieved record high ratings for MTV across dual demographics.

References

MTV Series Goes Behind The Walls of Lake County "Juvie"

External links

* {{MTVNetwork Shows 2007 American television series debuts 2000s American legal television series Juvenile law MTV reality television series American non-fiction television series