The word “crime” is understood as any act that violates a law. Informal relationships and sanctions have been insufficient to maintain a desired social order, resulting in formalized systems of social control by the government or the State.

Federal Criminal Justice
The creation of the first juvenile court in America, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, in 1899, marked the culmination of more than a century of effort by social and legal reformers who wanted to see children removed from the jurisdiction of the adult criminal courts.