Adolescence, 16 years of age and older, do not differ from adults in many area, that could prevent them from participating in a fair trial. Children between the ages of thirteen and seventeen years old should be assessed to test their competence levels to stand trial. Steinberg argues that immaturity in a juvenile case should be considered; just as insanity and emotional stress are considered in other cases. Collier realizes that crimes are occurring at an increasing rate and wonders why more action has not been taken in the juvenile justice system especially when the prosecutions of juveniles are not unheard
Generally, the police do not follow the protocol of the juvenile justice system unless it becomes necessary to actually process a juvenile. To saddle the police with yet another set of processes for juveniles would be less than productive as the patrol have so much more work to address. By the same token however we have community policing which does incorporate a level of juvenile justice. Law enforcement agencies implement several strategies when it comes to responding to and preventing crimes. One of the most recent of those many strategies is the community policing philosophy.
Just because a child commit’s the crime, doesn’t mean that the crime wasn’t committed. The victim (if there was one) still suffered. Violent crime should receive the harshest of punishments and it’s said that the children should be equivalent to that. The reason juveniles should be tried as adults is because it will not only help them understand the event of their action but also discourage the juvenile from any crimes in the future. It will automatically decrease crime rates in today’s society and hopefully make it a better place.
Elizabeth stated that when a juvenile is put on probation the probation officer works with the parents to try and steer the juvenile straight. What this means is that it is the probation officer and parent’s responsibility to try and help the juvenile put and end to his/her recidivism. The only negative about the probation officer and the parents working together is the parent’s inability to help the juvenile or the probation officer. I forgot to ask Elizabeth how often do juveniles become rehabilitated especially when the parents and probation officer work together. If the juvenile’s parents are avid about steering their son or daughter’s ways then this is an effective method, but as we know that’s not always the case.
I do believe we should not coddle them with taxpayer treatment programs that a lot of them enter and exit repeatedly. But, on the other hand, if those treatment centers do offer some sort of success, then it a good thing to offer them in hopes of the offenders not depending on drugs and having to commit crimes to get those drugs thus reducing crime, the courts, jails, and prison population. Drug treatment programs are less expensive than prisons and more effective at helping people turn their lives around. Many of the programs available to inmates are provided by organizations like AA and NA, which send volunteers into the prisons. Most of the volunteers are previous offenders who have changed their lives and now want to help other change their life.
Kids Should Not Be Tried As Adults The Juvenile Court was created in the early twentieth century to handle juvenile offenders on the basis of their youth rather than their crimes. Over the past twenty years, the public’s belief on youth violence has contributed to widespread support across the country to abolish the juvenile court system for kids to be given tougher sentences. The purpose of juvenile court is treatment and guidance rather than punishment so it is the state’s responsibility to protect and rehabilitate young offenders. Since psychology showed a difference between children and adult prisons because they do not have the same rights as adults and are not fully developed either.
5/24/08 The legal system can do various things to stop teens and kids from getting into gangs by producing outreach programs, community centers and using ex-gang members as mentors. The government has put in a lot of work to try and help kids to stay away from the gang life and the streets. The only reason most kids are in gangs is for the feeling of belonging to a family and unity. Also, some members like the way they dress. Some of the kids have a lack of family structure and therefore the lack of guidance to help point them in the right direction when times get hard.
The first thing that I would change would be to enforce harsher punishment for crimes so as to defer young teens from making the same mistakes again. Now-a-days a young person can commit a crime, and get a small punishment from the juvenile system and be out the next day. They eventually learn that if they keep committing these crimes, then they will keep being able to get away with it with only a small punishment. Kids these days are not stupid, they will eventually catch on to the fact that they are not being punished nearly as harsh as they should be and that alone will tell them that they should just keep doing it. I think one of the main reasons that they do
A judge has the right to sentence a juvenile to a correction center, possibly house arrest, or counseling. Adults also have the right to have bail set where juveniles do not. Another difference in juvenile court versus an adult court is, juveniles are considered delinquent rather than criminal. This was to guide the judges to act as a guide for the juveniles towards the development of the “child” for the best interest of him or her. The courts put in place to reform the child rather than to serve sentence as justice.
Explian why young offenders are treated differently in teh criminal justice system: less maturity - less ability to see the difference between right and wrong - more easily influenced by other people - chance to change how a youth views these bad things, while its too late for adults - gives a chance to preserve the inoccence in that child and gives them anoter chance to become a good person - the circumstances in their lives may have a LARGE affect on the bad choices they have made. What does this mean for