Juvenile Rehabilitation In Adult Prisons

“New Orleans prosecutors are seeking life without parole [for juvenile offenders] in half of all cases; in West Baton Rouge Parish, 100 percent,” (“Justice for the Youngest Inmates”). Whenever a minor is found guilty of committing a crime, he or she must go through the processes of the juvenile justice system. There has been much controversy over how young criminals should be punished and corrected for breaking the law. The goal of the juvenile justice system is to rectify the mistakes that youths have committed in order to produce functional, well-mannered members of society. However, juveniles are often treated poorly after being tried and come out of the detention facilities in a worse condition than when they entered.

Thomson’s article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” allows readers to understand that unlike adults, juveniles undergo biological changes which increases the likelihood of them committing crimes. Compounding this evidence with society’s infatuation with violence as depicted in Jenkin’s article “On the Punishment of Teen Killers”, readers can begin to acknowledge that contrary to adults, juveniles who commit heinous crimes are not in complete control of their actions. Furthermore, as a society we should no longer stand to sentence juveniles to life without parole because juveniles are still “malleable”, able to be reformed which is made evident in Garinger article “ Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences”. As informed members of society we have to be bridge builders, who are capable of crossing between the adult and adolescent world. It is only through these bridges that we are able to rescue kids from themselves.

Problems in our justice system Although many believe that all criminals belong in jail there are a number of kids that are tried as a adult. Basically they get sent sent to a jail with adults. Research shows that children that are incarracted develop mental illness and suicidal thoughts. Children aren't the only ones who have this issue, adults have it also. The justice system has completely failed us.

The answer is yes, for the following reasons: murder,multiple time offender, and rape. Murder Murder is one of the biggest reasons why adults serve life sentences. So why not juveniles? There are many reasons why a juvenile commits murder: Mentally unstable, have been repeatedly molested/abused by a parent figure,and does not know how to handle society.

In the article Children in prison. “Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted in adult prisons than in juvenile facilities and face increased risk of suicide.” These children are treated like this because they are smaller and more vulnerable. That makes it easy for adults to take advantage of them. This is not a right way to be treated for children but most of these juveniles deserve it.

“From 1982 to 1989”, the percentage of “drug-related murders” out of all types of murders went up “2 to 7.4 percent”. This can be attributed to the introduction of crack into society because crack was introduced during that time frame. One person said that the innocents killed in these were the casualties of fights between drug dealers who are fighting for their spot within the drug industry. The fact that innocent people were caught in the fights of drug dealers would cause people to feel unsafe where they live, scared of being the next victims of drug dealers’ violence. These fights between crack drug dealers would not have occurred had the demand for crack not been so high, thus Americans brought these fights, although unintentionally, on themselves by giving rise to a crack

Juvenile Justice Should juveniles get treated as adults that’s one of the biggest controversy in our nation now days, with many juveniles committing crimes that are inconceivable according to their age. Judges have the last word on how to treat this young people. Many people argue that “the teens that are under eighteen are only kids, they won’t count them as young adults, not until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager this people are to call them adults” (Lundstrom 87). This is why people can’t come to a decision as how these young people should be treated like.

New Orleans has been facing violence problems for many years. Some of the most common crimes are rape, murder, armed robbery, non-negligent manslaughter, and aggravated assault. It appears like some people have gotten used to seeing so much violence and some have even come up with ways to remember the names of the victims. The question that many people ask themselves is, “why is violence increasing?” According to Patrick Fagan propensity to crime develops in three stages associated with psychological and sociological factors.

There are other alternatives beside adult court for juveniles who commit serious crimes. Many minors who commit serious crimes and are put into adult jails under complete lockdown are driven to insanity, provided not all the children who killed did it just because; for a lot of them it was self-defense, and if you put them in a separate section in juvenile hall with other kids who committed crimes like their own then they can have positive interaction but still be kept under lock and key. Should those youth who were protecting themselves be condemned to living in solitude for the rest of their lives for defending his/her self? There are always alternative choices. There is always a right and a wrong even if the lines are blurred.

Juvenile Justice Should juveniles get treated as adults that’s one of the biggest controversy in our nation now days, with many juveniles committing crimes that are inconceivable according to their age. Judges have the last word on how to treat this young people. Many people argue that “the teens that are under eighteen are only kids, they won’t count them as young adults, not until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager this people are to call them adults” (Lundstrom 87). This is why people can’t come to a decision as how these young people should be treated like.

In the United States prisons there are two thousand juveniles serving life without parole before, the age of eighteen. Only one of a few countries in the world allows children, to be sentenced to prison without release. And, the United States is one of them holding young teens accountable for their actions. But, there is accordance with age, stage development and how their cases should be dealt with in court. There are an estimated twenty-six percent of juveniles sentenced to prison for life convicted with felony murder.

Sentencing juveniles to prison happens to be a very controversial topic today. Many people believe that juveniles should receive the same consequences as an adult criminal and a vast amount of people believe that juveniles should be given a second chance. I personally believe that a child should not be given the same consequences as an adult so the question I would like to pose to my audience is should juvenile offenders be offered the same consequences as adult offenders? Statistics show that across the nation at least 1,200 people are sentenced to life without parole for a crime they committed when they were under the age of 18. Majority of people will argue that this justified because if a child is given a second chance they will continue to commit crimes in the future.

In today’s society, juveniles can and do commit violent crimes. As a result, many are tried as adults and, if convicted, are sent to adult prison and sentenced to juvenile life without parole. Life without parole means that a young person is locked up for life without a second chance. Although some may argue that juveniles, who have committed violent crimes, deserve juvenile life without parole sentence, in reality, juvenile offenders should not be sentenced to life without parole because juveniles are mentally and emotionally immature, the victims of their own environment, and can be rehabilitated. Juveniles are not ready for life sentence without parole because of their mental and emotional immaturity.

There are certain instances of juveniles being tried as adults and sometimes ending up getting a life sentence without a chance of parole. I find that pretty harsh because there have been some cases where the juvenile meant no harm, they were either confused or brought along by gang members and they end up being charged along with the gang members for just being with them when a crime goes down. I believe that juveniles do not deserve to be given a life sentence because for one they are still maturing, they can learn from their mistakes and make amends, we still have to combat crimes like intended murder committed by a juvenile with extreme punishments especially if they are well over the age of 16. In the article published by the New York Times on March 14, 2012 “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences”, Garinger discusses that juveniles deserve a second chance since their brains are still developing.

Throughout the year, over 10,000 children in the United States are placed in adult prisons and jails. Children of any age depending of the circumstances can be placed in adult prisons surrounded with offenders who have done some heinous crimes. This can be a problem because the adults can delude the children between what is right and wrong. Juveniles should not be placed in an adult penitentiary due to the lack of morals being taught to them, the harmful effects that can occur to them mentally and physically, and the lack of education they will receive while being placed in a penitentiary.     A juvenile offender's age could vary widely throughout the United States their are about half of the states have no minimum age requirement for a person to be tried as an adult.