Persuasive Speech Outline

Not only does Berstein call for an overall reform of this nation’s juvenile prisons, she goes as far as saying the practice of locking up youth is in need of a “more profound than incremental and partial reform” (13). The fact that Bernstein outlines the numerous failed strategies and goals of this practice with her compelling use of studies and statistics is enough to promote an audience to reject the practice of locking up youth. The statistic she shares that “four out of five juvenile parolees [will be] back behind bars within three years of release” as well as the studies she conducted on numerous instances when a guards abuse of power lead to the death of a child work to further prove her point: being that “institution[s] as intrinsically destructive as the juvenile prison” have no place in a modern society (13, 83). Bernstein refutes this false sense effectiveness further by sharing her own ideas on what she believes works as a much more humane solution to rehabilitating

The article, “The Steep Costs of Keeping Juveniles in Adult Prisons” written by Jessica Lahey states, “Juveniles constitute 1,200 of the 1.5 million people housed in federal and state prisons in this country, and nearly 200,000 youth enter the adult criminal-justice system each year, most for non-violent crimes.” Minors should not be tried as adults because their brains are not developed, they may come from bad backgrounds, and they have their whole life ahead of them, and their life should not be determined by the mistakes they made as a child. Juveniles who are usually 14 or older who have committed serious crimes are tried as adults and are put into adult-state prisons. This is inhumane and unsafe for the child’s physical and mental health.

The article, The Steep Costs of Keeping Juveniles in Adult Prisons by Jessica Lahey states that “due to the imbalance of power between children and adults, not to mention between children and prison staff, sexual abuse of juveniles in adult prison is underreported; fewer than one in 10 of the juveniles surveyed reported their abuse.” ( ). The adult prison is not safe because of the abuses between the staff and juvenile, they need to be aware of what happens in the adult system. Lahey wants to show how dangerous the adult system is by stating what actually happens in prison to the juveniles because of the adult prisoners and the staff. Lahey also explains about how the lack of services and safety, “juveniles housed in adult prisons are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than juveniles housed apart from adult offenders.” (The Steep Costs of Keeping Juveniles in Adult Prisons). The adult system is not safe, it doesn 't help the juveniles get better. In fact, it only makes the juveniles become afraid and will have difficulty trusting the

There is no segregation between adults and children within the system. Children are entirely different from grown adults, they have different needs, wants, they need to learn and find themselves. When placed in an adult prison they have lost all those needs, and wants, and are expected to act like an adult. Adolescents placed in jail for drug use need restorative action, rehabilitation for their actions. If these children placed in adult jails for drugs get released they are most likely to be apart of the recidivism rate and end up back in jail for drug use once again. Juveniles need rehabilitation instead of lifelong sentences their deviance could be factors of conformity to how they grew up, and we need to help them grow out of their old ways to become a new person instead of sitting in a cell for the rest of their

In today’s society the youth generation seems to be facing some problems that there is no solution for. Juveniles are participating in many wrongdoing activities that they are not being held accountable for. I see many gray areas when it comes to the juveniles justice system and I strongly believe there should be changes made in order to help these juveniles be deterred from such behavior so they do not continue down a path that can affect the rest of their lives.

The juvenile justice system has made numerous of ethical issues when managing juvenile offenders. The issue with the juvenile justice system is the laws and rules that govern it. It has led to years of controversial debate over the ethical dilemmas of the juvenile corrections system, and how they work with youth offenders. The number of minors entering the juvenile justice system is increasing every month. The reasons why the juvenile justice system faces ethical dilemmas is important and needs to be addressed: (1) a vast proportion of juveniles are being tried and prosecuted as adults; (2) the psychological maturation of the juvenile to fully comprehend the justice system; and (3) the factors that contribute to minorities being adjudicated in the juvenile justice system are more likely than White offenders. These three ethical issues that are rising in the juvenile justice system will be further examined.

The privatization of youth confinement facilities is now widespread in the United States; almost half of the youth facilities in the country are privately operated. While many of these private facilities are owned or operated by non-profits, we focus this policy platform on for-profit facilities, which pose a unique and significant risk to youth (http://www.njjn.org/our-work/confining-youth-for-profit--policy-platform). Robert May’s documentary sheds a little light on the problem with the justice system and shows that it might be something that the United States wants to fix before it becomes a problem. He claims that minors need a justice system that protects their rights as well as they protect adult’s rights. Ciavarella was convicted in 2011 of racketeering and other charges, sentenced to 28 years in prison; of the 39 charges against him, Ciavarella was guilty for 12. Conahan, the one who oversaw the scam, pleaded guilty to racketeering and was sentenced to more than 17 years behind bars. Hilary graduated college and wants to become an English teacher for at-risk kids. The victims and their families have also won millions in judgements from Mericle and Powell’s

There are many children in the world who are being put behind bars and detained for alleged wrongdoing without protections they are entitled to. Throughout the world, children are charged and sentenced for actions that should not be considered as adult crimes. Here in the United States, the minimum age of criminal responsibility is age 12. Law enforcement officials and those in the juvenile justice system nationwide tend to mistreat underage individuals by trying cases while working through the lens of an adult. Unfair punishments are still handed down domestically, which is in violation of Supreme Court law. The following articles specifically address the idea that juvenile justice is unethical. In the article, “Juvenile Justice & Adolescent

Better decision-making by prosecutors involves exercising prosecutorial discretion in favor of adolescent rehabilitation. Whether to transfer an adolescent often rests on the prosecutor in most states, however, the lack of specific standards guiding prosecutors in their discretion makes the transfer process susceptible to abuse, ultimately influencing the disparity. Nonetheless departing from traditional rehabilitative goals, transferring adolescents into the adult criminal justice system has proved unsuccessful with unintended consequences. As such, offering alternatives in lieu of incarceration may yield a more positive outcome for rehabilitation and towards reducing the disparity by diversion and community-based alternatives.

In today’s world there are countless crimes committed every single day. “In 2015, there were 1.42 million total arrests, at a rate of 3,641 arrests per 100,000 residents” (State of California, Department of Justice). Grown adults are not the only people being arrested every year, there are also juveniles, children, being arrested every day. One topic of controversy today is whether or not juveniles who commit these crimes should be tried as adults in criminal court. There are many differences between the justice system for adults and the justice system for juveniles. If a juvenile is defined as a person under the age of eighteen can we justify trying them in as an adult? Is convicting juveniles as adults a better solution?

When children and teens commit a violent crime such as murder, courts convict them as adults. This means that children as young as eight have been tried as adults in court. Eventually, these convicts will be housed in jails with adults. Despite the federal law stating that juvenile and adult inmates must be separated, most states do not comply with these rules. Furthermore, a law that varies throughout the states is the age in which courts send the children to adult or juvenile prisons. These cutoffs range from 7 to 14 years old. At any rate, the current situation is one that has sparked many moral and ethical beliefs to surface, resulting in debates that have yet to be resolved. Children who commit violent crimes should not be tried as adults, because proper educational services are typically not affordable, children are more susceptible to harming themselves

"It will probably rain tomorrow,” Margie said, “but the picnic will not be cancelled since the park has a shelter.”

Childress, S. (2016, June 2). More States Consider Raising the Age for Juvenile Crime. Retrieved from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/more-states-consider-raising-the-age-for-juvenile-crime/

Due to the judicial policies getting tougher on issues such as drug offenses and what they consider felonies, more and more people are going to prison. As of now, the United States has the highest rate of incarcerations. The inmates themselves are not only the only ones affected; 2.8 million children are left behind in the country after their parents are arrested (The Effects of Parental Incarceration on Children: Needs and Responsive Services). Children of incarcerated parents do not really get the attention they need, leaving them to face many problems alone. These children tend to develop mental illnesses, awkward social skills, and they function very different than a child with a normal home setting.

Over the years kids have rarely been trialed as adults and or been sentenced to life in prison. Today however many kids are being sentenced as adult and getting life in prison and some kids are as young as 12. In the United states it has came to be “normal” for children to be incarcerated for life with no chance of leaving.