Drug War Effects On Juveniles

Why should teen felons get to spend their jail time in juvenile detention centers for committing the same crimes as adults? In today’s world, teens are increasingly committing violent crimes and being put in juvenile detention centers. Teens need to be tried as adults because it helps to bring justice to families of victims, and it also teaches the teens accountability. Charging teens as adults will also help reduce crime in the United States. Although many people feel that teens should not be given severe punishments because they are immature and innocent, they have not considered the problem teens are creating by committing these crimes.. In reality, if teens are old enough and mature enough to commit violent and vicious crimes, they should

Chapter two introduces the policy problems related to the War on Drugs, as well as other policies that banned or limited other use of alcohol and drugs. Authors start with the history of the regulations of mood altering substances that began in colonial times, and then it escalated with “The Father of Modern Drug Enforcement”, Dr. Hamilton Wright. President Roosevelt assigned him to be the first Opium Drug Commissioner of the United States. Dr. Wright saw drugs as a big problem, according to the text the drug prohibitions started with his opinions on limiting drug use. In 1906 the Pure Food and Drug Act was signed and required the labeling of the ingredients of the products. There were other acts signed after that period, first we had The Harrison

Throughout high school teenagers are going through many changes. These young people are trying to find themselves and seek out who they truly are. Along the road they encounter peer pressure from people utilizing illegal substances. Even though school systems educate young minds about the use and consequences of illegal drugs, they still take the chances. The predominant complication that these adolescents come across is that upon interacting with the police, they are unaware of how to manipulate the circumstance. In Sarah Stillman’s article, The Throwaways, she mentions multiple cases in which we see how young adults today are treated when they have minor drug charges held against them. Stillman specifically elaborates on four unfortunate

Many people have disregarded the fact that children too can commit despicable crimes; crimes that not even adults would think about committing. Juveniles have had their era in in being able to manipulating courts to give them a lighter sentences for their so-called “mistakes”. These juveniles have made puerile excuses to try and exonerate their actions by blaming their impulses, rather than taking accountability for them. Juveniles should be tried as adults due to being aware of their crimes and having an intention to kill, however, brain development and maturity can play a role into the reason why teens kill. With being tried as an adult juveniles should be granted the opportunity of freedom pending on their rehabilitation status and if requirements

Using juvenile drug court as an alternative to incarceration to decrease the rapidly increasing number of young offenders is a policy that includes various key concepts that one must understand. To start, juvenile drug courts are mostly voluntary. While some juvenile drug courts are mandated, this aspect has not motivated a vast majority of these courts to follow suit. Therefore, these programs are designed to keep youth from using any type of substance. These juveniles are obviously involved in this type of program due to their substance use/abuse issues. The juveniles that are involved in this type of alternate program are comprised of both males and females. It has been shown that female juveniles have improved success at this type of program,

For generations, the argument whether juveniles should be waived to adult courts or not has been a prevalent one in our society. Some agree that waiving the juveniles to adult courts will reduce their recidivism rate, due to the harsh sentences and a lifelong record next to their name. However, in light of the argument these individuals fail to consider that the level of maturity of the juvenile is not the same as an adult. The cognitive development of the juvenile is still in process when they are underage, causing them to act impulsively without thinking about the consequences of their actions. In this paper, I will provide information as to why waiving juveniles to adult courts only causes their recidivism rate to increase rather

I do not think it’s a good idea to incarcerate juveniles because there is a large amount of evidence that shows the negative effects this has on the juvenile. This incarceration can stunt their growth not only physically but also mentally. There is also evidence that shows that incarcerating juveniles can cause them to become more criminal. However I also believe that it is important to create a safe community for everyone. In order to create a safe community it may be important and necessary to incarcerate some juveniles. I feel that the juveniles that need to be incarcerated are the most likely to reoffend or the juveniles who have committed serious crimes such as assault. I also think that incarcerating juveniles should be a last resort

Childhood is generally associated with an age of innocence and a time without serious problems or worries. However, for thousands of children in America, this innocence has been taken away from them. Instead of having time to learn from their mistakes and develop naturally, they are placed in an environment that is harmful to their growth. Currently, in the United States around 60,000 children and teenagers under 18 are incarcerated and around 10,000 are in adult jails (“America’s Addiction to Juvenile Incarceration: State by State”)(Lahey). 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 video I decided to do for the extra credit video analysis video is actually a video that we watched in my Sociology 310 class, about social theory. When I saw the assignment though, the video immediately clicked in my mind because of all the connections that could be made, and exemplify many of the key terms from class. The Stickup Kid (2014), is the story of 16 year old Alonza Thomas, who was sentenced to 13 years in the California adult prison system, after he failed an attempted armed robbery of a convenience mart. Thomas was the first minor tried under, then, newly enacted Proposition-21, which was a zero tolerance youth crime initiative for violent crimes, aimed at the so called “super predator.” I think the key points from our class that this video exemplifies are racialization, dominant culture, state apparatuses, and social location.

Secondly, it sets a harmfully negative example for kids when the drug offender get off easy and are not punished. We open the door to potentially violent drug crimes due to people who are high on drugs who use poor judgement, and could easily hurt someone or possibly injure or harm themselves. "Nonviolent" offenders sent to prison are not nice people. They could have committed any of the following crimes and still be classified "nonviolent": burglary, breaking and entering, grand theft auto, identity theft, drug trafficking, and the list go on and

Not all juveniles do drugs for a straightforward reason. Take Fernando Ellis, a young man who ended up taking drugs everyday. Fernando life took a turn for the worse when his mother died when he was only 12 years old. For children like Fernando, drugs are a mean of escape. Fernando’s father introduced him to drugs and alcohol at a young age and they were just the norm to him. One of the reasons children similar to Fernando is coping with a loss. Fernando also had access to these things because of his father.

The juvenile court system is a fixture of the justice system with many moving parts. Each component and member of the court system are essential in carrying out their common goal. By helping operate a complex system built to rehabilitate juveniles, these people, and the programs they run, prevent juveniles from reoffending, benefit them, and help them towards the path of becoming a productive member of society.

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?

Drug abuse is one of the top issues defying the country today particularly among the teenagers. Occurrences of drug and alcohol abuse and related anti-social behavior have massively expanded lately. This has become a matter of concern to the government, parents and teachers. Teens regularly try different things with an assortment of activities and substances. Unfortunately, this experimentation can prompt substance misuse and addiction. Measurements demonstrate that drug abuse is a developing issue among teenagers. Drugs should be forbidden all over the world because for teenagers it destroys their social life. On the other hand, many teenagers believe that it should remain because it helps them to cover from painful memories in their past. Despite the many causes and effects of drug abuse, two of the main causes are Lack of parent to child communication and low self-esteem and two of the main effects are Health problems and Behavioral problems.

As of recent, the war on drugs has been a very often discussed topic due to many controversial issues. Some people believe the War on Drugs has been quite successful due to the amount of drugs seized and the amount of drug kingpins arrested. I believe this to be the wrong mindset when it comes to the war on drugs. The war on drugs isn’t a winnable one so we must do all that is possible to assist those who struggle with drug addiction and decriminalize small amounts of drugs. These minor changes in the way we combat drugs will create significant change and have lasting effects.