The current state of the juvenile justice system is one which has created an immense debate between a variety of people in the United States. The main question in this debate boils down to the issue of whether children should be able to be tried as an adult with no regard to their age. The juvenile court system is a separate entity from adult court which is used to handle the criminal cases of the youth in America. In the present, some children have their ability to fall under the jurisdiction of the adult courts revoked due to the gravity of their crimes. This should not be the case as the juvenile court should be given the ability to treat juveniles the way they should be. A child may deserve a hefty punishment, but they should not receive …show more content…
Inherently, these children may not know the implications of their actions and could need help that adult prisons do not offer. If juveniles do not get to choose what they are born into, then why do others have a right to prevent them from getting help that could potentially turn their lives around? The psychological help offered in juvenile prisons are good options to help out juveniles who were not given a positive home life. Gail Garinger, a woman versed in the lives of juveniles due to her involvement as a juvenile court judge and as the Massachusetts child advocate, argues in her article “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences” that “The same malleability that makes [juveniles] vulnerable to peer pressure also makes them promising candidates for rehabilitation” (Garinger 94). The fact that a past juvenile court judge can acknowledge the ability of juveniles to change should be more than enough proof that children at least deserve a path to rehabilitation. Nevertheless, people continue to endorse the idea that juvenile criminals have a set path of crime in their life. As a whole, people must realize the capability that children have to change when they are shown a pathway different from the life they were raised
There are indication that most criminals have a juvenile records in the US, indicating that crime manifests from a tender age. Therefore, to reverse the incidence of crime, it follows that the best strategy is to reduce the criminal orientation in the juvenile offenders as opposed to hardening them and preparing them for criminal careers. The case of the Crossroads Juvenile Center demonstrates the willingness of the juvenile justice systems to make these changes on the children. References Day, S. (2014). Runaway Man: A Journey Back to Hope.
The United States boasts their juvenile justice system as one which rehabilitates youth and focuses on keeping juvenile delinquents out of the system in their future. However, it is apparent through the president’s statement that America could make far more advancements in the functions of the juvenile justice system. While many great reforms have taken place in
It is shocking to know that before 1967 youths in the United States did not have the same rights as adults in court. Before the landmark case In Re Gault individuals underage were not promised the freedoms under the fourteenth amendment. The court system did not take juvenile delinquent cases as seriously. It was almost as if they brushed the delinquents under the rug and put them into a detention center the first chance they got. The Supreme Court came to the conclusion that in the case of In Re Gault the requirements for due process were not met.
Roper v. Simmons is considered a landmark case and is one of a handful that shows a new direction in granting some relief from what has been established as harsh “adult” punishments for juveniles (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). In fact, many studies are showing that the differences between adults and juveniles are quite significant (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). The courts are realizing that these differences must be taking into account when dealing with juveniles in the criminal justice system (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). However, that being said, change does not occur overnight, and for the unforeseeable future, juveniles will still continue to be waived into adult courts (Elrod & Ryder, 2014).
1. Do children/juvenile have the capacity to understand the consequences of their crimes? Are the children/ juveniles able to be rehabilitated? Answer: Juveniles are between the ages of fifteen years and seventeen years of age. So, no they should not be tried as an adult because they are not eighteen years of age.
There persists a heated and controversial debate nationwide as to whether, under any circumstances, a juvenile should be tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison without parole. While recent efforts to ease the punishment have reduced the ultimate sentence for juveniles to forty years in some areas, the problem remains unaddressed at its root. Juveniles should not be sentenced as adults to life without parole because they lack in cognitive development, have rehabilitative capacity, and cost more annually to be held in prison than to be put through programs that address the root of the problem. First and most importantly, Juveniles should not be tried and sentenced as adults for life because the adolescent brain is in a period of cognitive
Jade Mimoso 9/10/15 Argumentative Essay 1 Do you think that Juvenile Justice Centers are beneficial for troubled teens? Well, they actually aren’t beneficial at all. I don’t think that they are beneficial because, some centers don’t help the troubled teens get on track, the center doesn’t have the same educational standards as regular schooling, and most of the kids that get out are still troubled.
Annotated bibliography 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/ More states are considering to raising the age for juvenile crimes before being tried as adult because young offender's mental capacity. The idea is to cut the cost of incarcerate young offender in adult prison and ensure offenders to receive proper education and specialized care to change their behavior. Putting children in adult prison does not deter crime.
We have seen today in society of how crime rates have been rampant and how statistics show that most of the crimes were being made by minors. I believe that when most of them look at the bottom of these young offenders come disproportionately from impoverished single-parent homes that are located in the neighbourhoods desinvertido and have high rates of learning disabilities, mental health, and substance abuse and problems with the help of the system of juvenile justice that can make a great return on a successful transition to adulthood. Their ages ranged from 20 and under, most are under fifteen years of age. Juveniles tried as adults must assume the same consequences as any other criminal and are subject to state prisons with inmates much higher and that have probably committed crimes much more tortuous then you could ever have. These minors between the ages of nine to twenty according to the offence committed or of the number of times that are prosecuted and believe that it is immutable.
In the article “Remember the Victims of Juvenile Offenders” Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins explains how the killer of her 26 year-old pregnant sister got away not only with that crime but others as well (Bishop-Jenkins 1). Bishop-Jenkins agrees how some teens need long term evaluation before they are able to rejoin the public, as a result should be tried as adults. If these criminals are shown there are no serious consequences for crimes then they will continue their antics. Teens should be tried as adults for felonies if they are unfit for juvenile detention centers for which they can not rehabilitate. Not only will it put criminals behind bars but will allow the victims to experience some
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.
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.
Within the urban communities, negative perceptions are magnified. Adolescents are more prone to be a product of their environment, especially those whose parents are incarcerated. Because of this trend adolescents are being incarcerated at an alarming rate and sentenced to adult facilities. Lambie & Randall (2013) states, the United States have imposed harsher penalties on serious young offenders, and have consequently increased rates of incarcerated youth and made it easier for youth to be treated and incarcerated as adults within the justice
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.
Can you imagine waking up behind closed walls and bars? Waking up to see your inmate who is a 45-year-old bank robber and you are a 14-year-old minor who made a big mistake. This is why minors who have committed crimes should not be treated the same as adults. Some reasons are because the consequences given to minors in adult court would impact a minor’s life in a negative way. If a minor is tried through a juvenile court, they have a greater chance of rehabilitation.