juveniles act on emotions or wants, without thinking their actions through completely. Oftentimes, juveniles are being influenced by an adult in their life. Courts and judges should look at who made the juvenile the way they are, and the living environment that the juvenile is from. It should not be fair that a 17 year old should be treated differently then an 18 year old, if they are a repeat offender. No matter the crime or the brutality of the crime, they should still know that wont be okay in the real world so why not be made aware from an early
The Juvenile Justice System has the bases of the Adult Justice System but the goals are much different. In the juvenile courts a child’s privacy is protected from the public. They focus on the needs of the child, trying to identify problems they are having and find solutions, treatments and support systems, to help them to stay out of the court system rather than punishment. Juvenile systems also believe that there shouldn’t be any long term confinement and that no matter what offense that you committed as a child you should be released by the age of twenty-one. The court process for the juvenile can last from a couple hours to a couple days long and are informal in nature without a jury.
In most juvenile homicide cases, they are automatically put into the adult justice system for committing the adult-like crime. Some of these children are receiving punishments such as life in prison, even life in prison without parole. Although, the kids may have committed the “adult” crime it is unethical for youths to be tried as adults. Youths should not be tried as adults because they are too young to understand the adult criminal court and could receive cruelty from the state penitentiaries. Also, instead of sending the juveniles
2) Delinquency offenses – Are act that a child could commit but if committed by an adult can result in he or she being criminally prosecuted. The purpose of the juvenile system was that children could be rehabilitated, because children are developmentally dissimilar from adults; and can
In adult cases they can have a retrial with a different jury to see if they get a better sentence. Diversion Programs exist for juvenile and adult offenders. Diversion programs are counseling, rehabilitation and behavioral treatment. In juveniles and adults they are given for first time offenders so they don’t have to serve time. Diversion programs for juveniles can be the big brother and sister club, group counseling, helping to further their education (GED, or high school diploma).
I will explain why I believe my ways of revamping the Justice system will help and possibly drop the levels of crimes committed by the youth. Immediate Discipline I believe that there needs to be a sterner court system for the juveniles. I have noticed and seen many times something such as theft is just looked at as a petty crime. In the long run the juveniles need to be disciplined for anything that may seem petty because those petty crimes can become bigger and worse crimes. Without immediate discipline we are giving the impression that if they commit a crime only once they can continue to commit other crimes as well because, hey, they will just receive a slap on the wrist if they have never committed it before.
Abolishing the juvenile court may enable them to see that children should have status as rights holders. The juvenile court’s emphasis on rehabilitation and reform not only masks the coercive effects of state intervention but also permits the state to do things to children on the grounds that it is in the children’s best interests. Combining the courts would actually be better for juveniles, which may seem like an absurd statement to many rehabilitators and children’s advocates until they understand the
These statistics reflect the “tough on crime” policy being imposed in the United States. The lawmakers who enacted laws designed to make it easier for juveniles to be tried and punished as adults see that the only solution to juvenile crime is to detain more children to make the society safer. It
Future of the Juvenile Justice System Courts: Many changes need to happen to allow a better future of the juvenile justice system. “The elimination of some of the court’s delinquency function as more and more jurisdiction over youth criminality is transferred to the adult criminal system. Another possibility is the removal or reduction from juvenile court jurisdiction of status offenses, including truancy, beyond control of parents, running away from home, and other noncriminal conduct. Instead of utilizing the juvenile court, this type of behavior would be addressed increasingly by community-based services. A third possibility is the juvenile court’s expanding jurisdiction over abuse and neglect cases.Oversight of abuse and neglect cases and of the social service agencies whichdeliver services to families has become a major portion of the work of the juvenile court” (Hanson, 1996) .
However, when a child engages in criminal activity the degree of the sentence received should coincide with offense .The central emphasis of this content is to illustrate the effects of retribution by holding the juvenile justice system responsible for precisely applying the appropriate sanctions toward deserving individuals. All through history, mischievous children who have gotten in trouble have been confronted with extreme reprimands. Over the last twenty years juvenile violent crime has escalated almost twice as quickly as that of adults. The rate at which juveniles were arrested for violent crimes rose 79 percent between 1978 and 1993, almost three times the increase over that time period for adults. The legal term juvenile delinquent was generated so that young offenders could steer clear of the humiliation of being labeled in officially authorized court documents as criminals.