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
The youths that are being tried in the adult courts should be offered to better themselves as for they are not fully developed at the ages under eighteen. Punishing a teen by taking away their rights for life is not helping the betterment of society. Another person in prison means more local taxes for another set of clothing, more food, and occasionally, more space to be built. A psychologist could benefit from these children who caused trouble, especially if the trouble was un intentional. Juveniles have greater possibility than adults to make a change in their lives with the right help with counseling and rehabilitation.
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.
The objectives of these centers are to afford an offender the ability to turn their life around, to become productive citizens later in life. Rehabilitated individuals may also become positive role models for other juveniles. For example, there are several different programs offered to help in the rehabilitation process: Drug Treatment, Education Continuation, Vocational Training, Individual Counseling, Group Counseling, and Family Counseling. The juvenile center isn’t comprised of any harsh or strict list of rules. However, the juvenile process is not a science.
Juvenile Delinquency and Family Structure Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements CJ 387 Juvenile Delinquency D’Meki L. Murry Mississippi Valley State University Mrs. R. Cobbs April 19, 2012 Introduction In today’s society more and more juveniles committing delinquent acts, we have to stop and ask ourselves why this continues to be a problem in our communities. This paper will provide an overview on juvenile delinquency and the role family structure has in this. Juveniles are more likely to become delinquent when there is little or a weak structure being provided by their family. Even thought there are many factors that entail the cause of juvenile delinquency, this paper will focus on three that encompass all the different factors. The main three I will focus on are family functioning, economic status and a two-parent versus a single-parent household.
The article titled “Juvenile Justice” was quite intriguing as I read further and further. It astounded me to learn how young some individuals are when they enact in particular sexual offences, especially in regard to victims even younger than the offender himself. While it is clearly recognized that the brain is not fully mature until the mid-twenties, it is difficult to depict the consequences for such a serious action taken by a premature individual. As sexual offenses continue to surface among children aging from as young as ten years old up to the early twenties, it is argued that convicting them as adults is wrong and in many ways unethical. In order to be prosecuted as an adult, shouldn’t the defendant’s mind be fully mature as an
Treatment or Punishment Sonya Clarke CRJ/301 Dianne Williams February 3, 2014 Treatment or Punishment Juvenile systems tend to focus on rehabilitating rather than punishing. Hess and Drowns (2012), states the following: “The juvenile justice system aims to rehabilitate young people who have gotten in trouble with the law so that they can avoid future acts of criminality and lead more productive lives” ( Quoted in Collica& Furst, 2012). However, the increase in drug related crimes is an indication that there needs to be a change in today’s juvenile system. Many believe juvenile systems should focus more on treating and rehabilitating rather than punishing juvenile drug offenders. Supporters of rehabilitation believe the
Delinquency Deterrence Response The threat of punishment does deter juvenile delinquency by general deterrence which means that crime control policies that depend on the fear of criminal penalties, such as long prison sentences for violent crimes. The aim is to convince law violators that the consequence outweighs the benefits of the crime or criminal activity (Wadsworth, 2005) If more severe, certain, and swift the punishment is the guiding principle of deterrence theory then the effects of the deterrence is greater. Since the increase in teenage violence, gang activity, and drug abuse was a result of not punishing adolescents severely as adults were so that juvenile justice authorities would not interfere with the parens patriae philosophy, which means A doctrine that grants the inherent power and authority of the state to protect persons who are legally unable to act on their own behalf (West,2005), prompted a reevaluation of deterrence strategies in the 1990’s shifting an emphasis on treatment to an emphasis on public safety in some juvenile courts (Wadsworth, 2005). This would allow officers to enter schools undercover to identify and arrest juvenile drug dealers and to allow judges to be more open with charging juveniles as adults leading to doubling the total of juveniles under the age of eighteen from thirty-four hundred in 1985 to seventy-four hundred in 1997. This and the legislators passing more restrictive juvenile codes seems to have an overall beneficial effect on the delinquency rate and that is that it has declined.
A juvenile would be more likely to commit a delinquent act or crime because many of these factors in the strain are things that they can not control or get away from, if an adult is a bad relationship they have the option to leave and get away from that person but a juvenile doesn’t always have that option many times they are forced to stay in places and deal with whatever the strain is and this causes an excess of strain which in turn causes delinquent behavior. Also being
By limiting the drinking age to 21, the government is just encouraging students to make illegal behavior and dishonesty. Due to the majority of underage drinkers, students are disobedient to the law; which leads up to criminal penalties. One example is that students are using fake ID Cards, to have the right to drink. When caught, these penalties can be severe and costly. It is obvious that the law has not succeeded in preventing the underage group from drinking.