Analysis Of The Juvenile Justice System

Juveniles Justice Juveniles who are criminals being sentenced to life without parole can be shocking to some people. I believe if a juvenile is able to commit a crime, then they are able to do the time. The article “Startling finds on Teenage Brains” talks about how the brain can be different from the time you are teens to the time you are an adult. After, considering both sides on juvenile justice it is clear that juveniles should face life without parole because they did the crime so they can do the time. Also I believe the juvenile’s age should not influence the sentence and the punishment give.

Children are not permitted the same rights and responsibilities an adult has. A child doesn’t have the same standards as an adult has. A good example is children don’t get to join the military as an adult could they must be 18 years and older to join the military. Teenagers don’t make the same decisions as an adult would. “With appropriate treatment most children who commit crimes, even the most violent crimes, can be rehabilitated and become responsible adults.”(Berger) The reason why is because their brains are still changing they are still going throw a change they are still growing.

These children go through very different experiences than their peers outside jail walls, face many challenges during their time in jail, and have difficulty adapting upon release. Placing children and teenagers in jail results in negative effects rather than rehabilitation. The juvenile justice system in America is complex and varies from state to state, but the overarching purpose is to rehabilitate youth offenders. It processes nearly 1.7 million cases a year and overall handles most of them the same way (“Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System”). When those under age go to trial, their sentence often is decided by how likely they are to be rehabilitated and learn from their mistakes (“Juvenile justice”).

With as many as 200,000 adolescent entering the adult justice system each year, controversies arise regarding whether young criminals should be tried as adults. Many troubled adolescents as young as 13 years old are thrown into the adult jails for decades; thus, the current justice system has a reputation for meeting juvenile crime with harsh sentencing. However, are these punishments truly rehabilitating young criminals to one day become a law-abiding adult? For the kids living behind the adult prison walls, there is a greater negative impact on them rather than the necessary guidance to help them grow as a person. It is evident a criminal record can ruin an adult’s life let alone one of a juvenile.

In America’s society, there are an estimated 1.2 million violent crimes committed every year. Adults are not the only individuals that are committing violent crimes. Juveniles are estimated to be involved in twenty-five percent of all violent crimes. Along with these crimes comes the decision on whether these juveniles should be tried as minors or adults, which has created an immense controversy around the United States. Certain juveniles are tried as adults because they must be held accountable for their actions, it brings justice to their victims, and because those individuals have a moral sense.

Some may think that kids wouldn’t be able to do a crime as bad as a grown person. On the news, internet, or social media, people see what horrible crimes some people commit, but most of those accused have one thing in common: age over 18. Some of the crimes committed are murder, rape, and others. Furthermore, there are times where juveniles, people who commit crimes under the age of 18, being tried as adults. The offenses that trigger the juveniles to be tried as an adult are generally, again, murder and rape.

Statutory Rape Statutory rape is a non-forcible crime of sexual intimacy between an adult and a child under the age of legal consent. The age of consent varies by jurisdiction, but is typically eighteen years old and below. Some jurisdictions also require the perpetrator to be ‘X’ number of years older than the victim before someone is charged with statutory rape. These laws are set in place because it is believed that a person below the age of adulthood cannot legally consent to sexual acts. The problem with statutory rape laws is that a person in their teen years is at the peak of puberty and is oftentimes experimenting with different sexual acts.

Introduction To begin with, a juvenile court is a special trial court that deals with children and adolescents convicted of crimes and most importantly, intervene in delinquent behavior through police court. They are specifically a correctional institution. In brief, it handles cases of delinquent behavior and dependency. There has and is still ongoing debate on the definition of who is a juvenile. However, a juvenile under eighteen years qualifies for juvenile court procedure.

In the same article the author states, “ In the early part of the decade, researchers for the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice found that…[Teenager’s] capacities change significantly over the course of adolescence. The researchers found what many of us were trying to say earlier about Cameron Kocher: that at age of 9, he simply couldn’t process information and plan a crime like an adult.” (Robert Schwartz). This evidence shows that a child is innocent and does not have the capacity to plan a crime like an adult would do. A child does not even understand what is right and wrong because they do not have

Many Americans argue that teens should be tried as adults for the violent crimes they commit. Teenage murder rates have been increasing over time. Yes, there are people that think these teens shouldn't be tried as adults because of how young they are. However, I disagree, these criminals that get released are mainly the juveniles who committed adult crimes. I believe that teens should be tried as adults for many reasons.