Jeffrey Butts, in "Can We Do Without Juvenile Justice?" asks whether a separate juvenile justice system is still feasible. Considering the arguments for and against the abolition of the court, he notes the universally accepted fact that modern day juvenile courts have grown increasingly indistinguishable from adult courts. Further, he describes the various procedures enacted by legislators to impose crime-based rather than individual-based sanctions upon young offenders. Lost in the debate, according to Butts, are the significant costs borne by American youth as a result of current practices.
Hannah Mr. Elenbaas Advanced Composition 8 January 2014 Should Minors be Tried as Adults? There is much controversy over the issue of whether a child should be tried as an adult if convicted of a violent crime. Minors are starting to watch adults who are doing violent crimes, and they think it might be okay if they do it too. But does this mean we can punish minors like adults? Minors should not be tried as adults because they have not experienced the world like adults have, and they are not competent enough to go through or understand a trial.
I believe the drinking age should be lowered down from twenty-one to nineteen years old. America is fighting too hard against underage drinking, in turn, weakening itself. Obviously our tactics of fighting aren’t making alcohol any safer in America. The problem has become severe and leaving the legal age at twenty-one is not helping. Alcohol is a problem among Americans and we should enact a law that leads to a better path for underage Americans.
President Mark Soler of the Washington, D.C., Youth Law Center points out that adolescents/children are required by law to be incarcerated separately from adults. However, the overwhelmed juvenile justice system lets the adult criminal justice system handle many youth offenders. This causes numerous negative effects for convicted juveniles. The law recognizes that adolescents/children are less equipped to make important decisions than adults are. Yet the law fails to distinguish between adolescents/children and adults when it comes to spending the rest of their lives in prison for crimes they have committed before their 18th birthday.
What Causes the Wrongful Conviction of Youth? Children are not Adults Young people are more likely than adults to become victims of wrongful convictions. There are a variety of reasons for this phenomenon, and this section seeks to explain why youth are more vulnerable to wrongful convictions because of their age. Youth are not adults, thus these children cannot be expected to approach the legal system with the same degree of knowledge that an adult is equipped with. Furthermore, youth are categorically more susceptible to influence, compliant to authority figures, less likely to weigh the risks and consequences of any given scenario and less likely to understand the law.
The law considers youth crimes to be less culpable than adult, therefore juvenile punishment should not be as severe as those available for adults, even for the exact same crime.” The punishment of a 14 year old, Arkansas teenager who wasn’t the triggerman at a video rental store that he and his robbed was fair. Even though he wasn’t the one who pull the trigger, that kill the cashier, Under Arkansas felony-murder law, he was tried as an adult for aggravated murder and, under state law, received a mandatory sentence of life without parole. Youth that doesn’t have the bond or lack of positive influence are likely to commit violent crimes. According to, (Laub, 1983), “Indicates that the economic isolation of inner-city neighborhood, along with the concentration of poverty and unemployment, lead to an erosion of the formal and informal controls that inhibit delinquent behavior”. Their environment plays a
Juveniles are way too vulnerable to conduct in behavior that is too immature and irresponsible (Cornell, 2009). This suggests that juveniles are way too influenced by their immediate surroundings, giving them a lack of control and immature behavior. With in a society, juveniles are still trying to define who they are and understand themselves. On March 1, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court held: The Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid imposition of the death penalty on offenders who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed (Cornell, 2009). Reference: FindLaw, (2009).
When a student become the age of 16, his responsibilities become more important to them. They start learning how to drive, and getting employed as well. They start having that responsibility to understand about gun safety, because a person does not want to give this knowledge to a child but someone who has already started to grow up to understand about the importance of responsibilities. They understand about gun safety so they can wield the knowledge and power of guns and also have great responsibilities to be safe from the power that they receive. When a kid starts learning about life, he or she does not know the difference between what is right or what is wrong, so a person who is under the age of 16 cannot determine if a gun is right or wrong.
Instead of trying to prevent every American under the age 21 from consuming any alcohol, there needs to be more government programs to educate younger people on the problems that alcohol can have, if inappropriately consumed. If the drinking age is lowered and mandatory classes on alcohol consumption are made, Americans would start making smarter decisions about alcohol in general. On the other hand, a lot of people say that if the drinking age were lowered to 18 people would abuse it. Americans aren't used to the idea of drinking casually. Drinking in the US has become an abusive activity that some people cannot control.
No one wants to convict an innocent man or woman of a crime they didn’t commit, so surely no one wants to convict a juvenile—without knowing. The process of the juvenile court system all depends on the seriousness of the offense/crime and whether the juveniles denies involvement or claims involvement. If the court finds that the juvenile is involved, or the juvenile claims involvement, the court will then decide the juveniles punishment based on best interest for the juvenile. For adults, the goal of the court is to punish the adult if found guilty of committing a crime. Juveniles, however, are much younger and may require a different approach.