The main difference is that the main goal of the juvenile justice system is to help young people. Everyone in the system wants to help minors. They want to rehabilitate them, so that they can continue to live a normal, crime-free life. Adult justice systems aim for justice. They want punishment. The juvenile court system is based on civil laws and not criminal laws. This shows that they seek rehabilitation and not punishment. (Fradella & Neubauer, 2011, pp. 500). The juvenile court is also private. Adult courts allow people to attend hearings, but hearings in juvenile courts are closed to the public and names are not released. The jurisdictions of the two judicial systems are also different. The jurisdiction of the adult justice system is based on the crime committed, whether it is a federal law that has been broken or a state law that has been broken. For minors, jurisdiction is based on age. The age varies from state to state. For example, in New York, a 16-year-old is considered an adult, while in Pennsylvania the cutoff age is 17 (Fradella & Neubauer, 2011, pp.