Keeping Juveniles In Adult Prisons

The face of American crime has evolved from adults to the not so innocent faces of adolescence. In today’s society, it is not uncommon for people to fear just walking into public places because they don’t know what horrendous actions may occur due to the indifferent, disrespectful actions of some of America’s youth. Parents are often hesitant to send their children to school because they feel that they cannot trust their child’s fellow classmates. This lack of trust and apprehension was evident in Wisconsin, where two thirteen year old girls attempted to murder one of their fellow classmates. Their reasoning was that they were trying to imitate a fictional character that they saw on the internet. These two young girls were tried as adults

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.

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

There is a great deal of controversy that exists in America today. The question is whether a juvenile who committed a heinous crime should be punished to the same extent as an adult. The growing trend in the United States is to “get tough” on juveniles who commit these crimes. This has resulted in a growing number of minors who trial as adults, and being sent to adult prisons. Many believe if that an adult crime is committed, then you should face consequences appropriate for adults, but what exactly is the appropriate age to be considered an adult? What factors do we have to consider when doing so? I believe that juveniles by definition are not adults, and therefore should not be tried as such.

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.

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.

Gary Scott a 17 year old man who was arrested at young age of 15 for a second degree murder and was served for 14 and a half years at a state prison in San Quentin California.

It is wrong to hold children as adults when they haven’t reached the age limit to be considered an “adult”. 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. The brain where it “regulates aggression, long range planning, mental, flexibility, abstract thinking has not yet been developed.”(Berger) In the article “Justice for Juveniles” a child is tried as an adult his parents don’t want him to go to jail because they say it is too big for him, and he wouldn’t last a day in there. The judge didn’t bother to

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The author presented good points when it comes to the issues with placing juveniles in secure confinement. When placing these juveniles into confined locations it can sometimes set them up for failure and the chance of rehabilitation is slim to none. In the text it mentions issues these kids face by being in a secure facility, the issues consists of not being properly handled to due undertrained staff , not having enough staff to monitor the kids, and keeping the kids away from the adult offenders if they are placed in that type of facility. These issues and others have been known to cause depression, suicide/suicide attempts, rape, and other horrible things to happen to the kids. The text shows that by placing the juveniles on

After reading the article, I do agree that juveniles should be segregate from the adult prison for protection. However, I don 't agree with the solitary confinement and being restrained in small spaces. Most of these juvenile offenders have nonviolent criminal charges. Solitary confinement can cause all kinds of mental and psychological problems for juveniles. There have been cases where juveniles committ suicide while in adult prison because they have experienced physical abuse, mistreatment by staff members and long stays in solitary confinement. The data on solitary confinement should be made public because taxpayers fund the correctional system prisons. The public needs to know what juveniles goes through as they are sent to adult facilities.

America, the country with the highest rate of incarceration in the world, has its fair share of issues with in the system made to rehabilitate its prisoners. The issues involved within this system run deep and are often found to be a direct issue with how the system is formed. Although it wasn’t always this way, juveniles are treated separate in the eyes of the court and receive separate services from the rest of the jail and prison population. This new system often referred to as the Juvenile system has faced a series of hardships and has become just as dangerous and tedious as the regular court systems. This paper will look at how groups have formed within these institutions, how detention for juveniles can affect their future and their

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

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. As adults or as juveniles, according to how serious is the crime they committed.