...Juvenile Justice; Don’t Send The Future Away The day I got locked up was a bad day. When I got out i thought it was over not knowing it’s a whole court system I had to go through. I was 16 at the time so I got tried as an adult. I sign my plea for two weeks of probation later. Is the question “are juveniles getting a fair justice?” According to Nicole Scialabba during a single year, an estimated 2.1 million youth under the age of 18 are arrested in the United States. Since the 1980s there has been growing concern about crimes committed by young people. Juveniles should not be tried as adults because young offenders are at risk sent to adult prisons, they are more likely to commit crimes and they lack understanding of the crime they committed. Juveniles should not be tried as adults because they will be sent to an adult prison. An adult prison will have an extremely destructive effect on the juveniles. “Young prisoners are also at a disadvantage because they are not as mature (mentally and physically) as older prisoners (Scott). It is saying that automatically going in a adult prison they are already not safe. Compared to adults they are small. The adult prisoners are physically bigger than juveniles so...
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...Kaur Ravanpreet Mr. Ramos English CP 12.2 26 March 2015 Justice for Juveniles The criminal justice system for adults and juveniles differs in many significant ways. An adult system is for eighteen and older who have committed a crime. The juvenile system is for young offenders who commit serious crimes. Adult offenders have to get a lawyer in order to meet a judge, and juvenile that is under eighteen needs to have their parents present to meet the judge. There are more crimes committed by juveniles. Some examples are school shootings, and murders. Sometimes kids commit a serious crime and are sent to adult prison. Two young girls who lured another twelve year old girl in to the woods, and stabbed her 19 times to please slender man. The two girls are being charged with first degree intentional attempted homicide. They are likely to be tried as adults and long prison sentences. These girls were only trying to please a fictional character who they thought was real and lived in the woods. They thought if they pleased slender man he would not come after them. The girls did not do this intentionally, they were doing it for their safety. Some people think we should treat them as adults and others think they are still kids whose brains are not yet fully developed. Adult courts tend to be more punishing, while juvenile courts tend to be more rehabilitative. Every state has their own laws and rules they make and follow. Each state is left up to their own devices on what to do. The...
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...never be tried as adults in any court of law. It has been a large and heated debate about if adolescents should be able to be tried as an adult for adult crimes. One side of this argument is that if a teenager commits an adult crime, they should be sentenced reflecting the crime and not the age. Whereas others believe that if a child does not have the same legal rights and responsibilities as adults, they should not be held to adult standards in this case either. In this paper I will explain the disadvantages and inhumanity of this injustice toward our future by using facts, statics, and blogs. In the 18th century, children as young as seven could be tried as adults, in criminal courts, in America. These children were jailed with adults because the first institution designed to accommodate children wasn’t established until the year 1825. The Society for prevention of Juvenile Delinquents founded the New York House of Refuge, which prompted other states to follow their examples by building group homes and half way houses for child offenders. The first juvenile court wasn’t established until the year 1899 in Cook County, Illinois. It took until the year 1925 for 48 out of the 50 states to found juvenile courts as well. An amendment in 1980, mandated that juveniles could not be placed in adult jail, with few exemptions. But these exemptions were later used as loop hole,” In the 1990: almost every state passed laws making it easier to try juveniles in adult criminal courts; 31...
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...daughter from a prominent white family (hopkins) juveniles have been taking advantage because of the things they are accused of most juveniles do not even know their amendments so they're not protected by them either. Juveniles under the age of eighteen should not be tried as an adult because a prison is not parenting any child, some of the punishments are too harsh, and because of their immature brains. Prison is not a place where juveniles will actually get to learn things like people expect them to. It does not provide help like a parent would. Most juveniles commit crimes because they are probably neglected or do not have a parent role model there for them. Any role model could do so much for an adolescent because they follow the steps of that person. Young offenders often end up isolated from society because of this they choose to do foolish things. The foolish things some end up doing are joining gangs, committing robberies and doing drugs. A prison is not going to help as much with those issues. A gang member still has a connection to the outside world so them changing is a bad bit Unlikely. Prisons can not change juveniles like people think they should. If prisons help so much why are there second offers? Most juvenile offenders become second offenders because...
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...This issue paper will cover the subject of “Trying Juveniles as Adults”. This has brought up a very controversial topic that people seem to be very passionate about. The rate of minors committing horrendous crimes has been on a steady rise for the past couple of decades (DOJ National Report Series Bulletin, 2011). There are many differences between the court system for Juveniles and the justice system for adults. In Juvenile courts there are no juries and no trails by jury either. In adult courts the sentencing is much harsher and the chance of getting off the hook with some counseling is very slim. If a juvenile is defined as a person under the age of 18, how can you justify trying them in a court designed for adult offenders? Some juvenile cases get transferred to adult criminal court through a process called a “waiver”—when a judge waives the protections that juvenile court provides (www.ojjdp.gov). Usually, juvenile cases that are subject to waiver involve more serious crimes, or minors who have been in trouble before (nolo.com/juveniles youth adult criminal court). Being tried as an adult gives a juvenile more constitutional protections, but it also has disadvantages such as losing the juvenile protections as well. Depending on the crime of the minor, both court systems can punish the individual, but which court can give the appropriate punishment or the “crime”, not the age of the person committing the crime? The big question now is should we the courts show more...
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...CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM There are strength and weakness in trying a juvenile as an adult. One weakness is that adult prisons are more focused on incarceration. The juvenile will be treated as an adult within the prison walls and the crimes they committed are proportional to the offense that is committed. The juvenile is sent to prison and is required to serve their time without being offered programs that may prevent them from reoffending. Once that juvenile is an adult and enters back into society, he will most likely reoffend within three years of his/ her release. Another weakness is the juvenile being exposed to hardcore criminals. The juveniles are learning from the adults and learning new behaviors in which hardcore adult offenders expose them to. Conversations on crime, being tough and how to respond to violence are ways juveniles emulate adult behavior. In most cases these juveniles are not being watched and are being raped and taking advantage of. They have to learn to protect themselves from someone that is twice their size and eventually end up needing protection while in prison. These juveniles do what they can to survive in adult prisons with many committing suicide because of the everyday pressures they are faced with while in the adult prisons. Finally, the juvenile now has a permanent record and their livelihood when they reenter society is difficult. When the juvenile was tried as an adult, the court proceeding were not only open to the public but access...
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...It is my opinion that older juveniles who commit serious crimes should be treated as adult offenders. This is based on the age of an older juvenile being established as any individual older than 17 years older. My determination is the fact that by the time an individual who is 18 should understand that if they commit a serious crime they will be treated as an adult. An individual who is 18 has usually graduated from high school. All other ages, below the age of 18, in my opinion, would be lost in the adult prison system, as addressed in our readings this week. In the brochure, The State of Juvenile Probation Activity in Texas, it discussed the decrease in juvenile referral to the juvenile probation system. The article, Prosecuting Juveniles...
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...Juvenile Justice Essay Juvenile should be try as an adult or not is an issue that had been discussed for a long time. There are arguments and reasons that they should be try or they should not. In the passage that was provided, there are both sides of the issue that the majority think that juvenile should not be in adult prison system but the minority think that they should be. In my opinion, I agree with the majority in the Supreme Court and believe that the juvenile should not be put in adult system even though they have committed a serious crime based on variety of reasons like their age and also about the situation that led them committed crime. From the arguments in the passage, the issue is that whether the juvenile should be put in adult prison or not. The Supreme Court had ruled that juveniles who committed a murder could not be sentenced to life prison because it’s violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. I agree with this idea because juvenile even though can commit a serious...
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...Juveniles convicted as adults: Unconstitutional How does placing a child in an adult prison, where they risk sexual abuse that eventually leads to suicide, teach them a lesson? Juveniles, who commit serious crimes, are usually seen as convicts or criminals who should pay the price of what they committed even if that means sentenced as an adult and occasionally with no parole. Some of these juveniles who are being tried as adults suffered from psychological traumas caused at home by their parents or own family members. People need to know what can be done to prevent these crimes. Placing a juvenile in an adult trial is unconstitutional and is abusing their rights. Many of the juveniles prosecuted as adults are placed in adult jails pretrial, where they are at risk of harm, abuse and suicide. People need to understand the importance and dangers of incarcerating a child in an adult correctional facility. The administration of justice should implement meaningful juvenile justice reforms such as, rehabilitation centers, counseling, and they should correspondingly perform psychological test before being prosecuted in an adult trial so the U.S can uphold the dignity and human rights of our children and ensure that no child in our nation is considered a throwaway person. Juvenile crime rates soared in the mid- 1990s, and that is why every state initiated strict laws against juveniles and began incarcerating minors as adults. That high rates of juvenile delinquency dropped quickly...
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...April 24, 2015 Government 122 Highley Teens and the Prison System Teenagers all over the world are being sent to prison the youngest age of fourteen years old. Imagine being raped at the age fourteen and there is nothing you can do about it. “Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted in adult prisons than in juvenile facilities and face increased risk of suicide.” Throughout this paper the dangers present for a teenager in prison, why they should be in a rehabilitation center, and talking about the expenses if every teenager were to go to prison will be explored and detailed. Although juveniles commit similar or in the some cases the same crimes as adults they should not be incarcerated in the same facilities as adults. In fact depending on the crime teens should have multiple options for rehabilitation. Teenagers do stupid things growing up. In many cases prison is seen as the first and most convenient option. Rehabilitation should be an option because at adolescence the brain is not fully developed. Rehabilitation can help these teenagers with the choices they make. If teenagers want to keep making the same mistakes then rehabilitation is not going to change the choices they make and maybe they should go to prison and realize rehabilitation was better and trying to help them. Rehabilitation is encouraging in making adolescents go to school and better their education and life choices. “If the rehabilitation...
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...incarcerating a juvenile with adults in prisons and jails are somewhat skeptical. I believe the biggest factor in determining if a juvenile should be housed with an adult in a prison or jail depends on the historical criminal characteristics of the juvenile and the volume of the crime. Anyone who has spent time in a local courtroom knows the caseloads are significantly larger than criminal or circuit court proceedings, and the prosecution along with the defense counsel seems to speed the process up and get dispositions on all the cases the court docket displays. The same applies to juvenile court as well and I don't think there will ever be an absolute resolution to this. The speedy process undoubtedly loses its grip on rehabilitating a juvenile if they are tried in adult court, as most judges are inexperienced with statutes that deal with juveniles (Siegel & Bartollas, 2014). I believe there is hope among juveniles if they are rehabilitated correctly and they can be molded into a better character as they are assumed to lack having a positive character in their lives that inspire them to simply live a good life, in most cases. Therefore, I do not believe every juvenile should be incarcerated with adults for crimes that don't have a criminal nexus that supersedes a misdemeanor degree or a pattern...
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...Corrections Throughout the history of the criminal justice system the prison system has changed on many different levels from women in prisons to the separation of juveniles and adults in prison and prison labor. Each of these changes has benefited those involved on different levels overall. The development of corrections has gone through multiple levels of changes and provides a better environment for all prisoners. Prior to the 1800’s the number of women in prisons was small compared to the number of men. The women in prison primarily consisted of prostitutes and thieves and they were treated just like the men were treated, the only difference was that if a woman was pregnant prior to entering the prison system then their punishment was suspended until after the birth of their babies. Today women and men are housed separately and their feminine needs are met such as health needs and psychological and mental needs as well. Juveniles at one point were also housed with adult prisoners but this changed as well. There were three main arguments as to why juveniles should be housed separately from adults. First, it was believed that the prison life was too harsh on juveniles. Second, many argued that juveniles would learn bad habits from the adult prisoners which would make it harder to rehabilitate them, and then they turn into habitual criminals doing larger crimes. Finally, it has been argued that in order for juveniles to be able to be rehabilitated they would need to be placed into...
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...Should Juvenile Be Charged as Adults in Criminal Cases? Robert Horn Post University The purpose of the Adult Criminal Justice system is to punish offenders according to the severity of the crime committed. The juvenile justice system’s aim is to rehabilitate or mentor the juvenile offenders, in the hope that they can prevent further crimes, and to change their behavior. The motivating principle of the juvenile system is rehab. The reason for this is because juveniles are not fully developed, mentally or physically. Many Juvenile offenders come from broken homes, been abused, or come from bad neighborhoods. Juvenile offenders need a second chance, because they have not even received a first chance. Rehabilitation is the best option for them because of the way they would be exploited and turned into criminals if they were sent directly to prison. If given the chance, the Juvenile Justice System can aid in successfully rehabilitating youthful offenders so they are not inclined to commit future crimes. With this reasoning, juveniles cannot be blamed or accountable for their actions the same way adults are. The Justice System fulfills and important function by establishing standards of conduct. It defines what is right and wrong for people and removes them from the responsibility of taking vengeance out on those who wronged them, which deters the escalation of feuds in the community. The Justice System also...
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...old (minors/juveniles/adolescents) ever be tried and sentenced as adults? The legislation of trying and sentencing youth criminals under adult justice system has been a hot topic of debate. Supporters of tough laws on insist the need to enforce harsh penalties to uphold justice. The practice of treating youth criminals as adults since the 1990s is a result of the steep rise in youth crimes. However, youth advocates argue that tough laws should not be applied to youth offenders anymore. The core issue of the controversy is whether, because adolescents are biologically and mentally different from adults, they should be treated differently. For minor offenses such as property crime in which nobody is killed, it is understandable that harsh punishments are not necessary. But there need to be tougher penalties for severe crimes that threaten and take others’ lives. Hence, juveniles under eighteen years old who commit violent crimes such as murder and rape should be tried and sentenced as adults in order to punish them for their mistakes, to lower the crime rates and to protect the society. Laurence Steinberg, a psychology professor from Temple University, describes the adolescent brain as “a car with powerful gas pedal and weak brakes” (cited in Hansen, 2010, p.123). This is a good illustration of the fact that humans’ psychosocial abilities do not develop fully before reaching adulthood as cognitive abilities do. A series of experiments studying adolescent and adult impulse control...
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...is an Adult. However for some it becomes a taboo subject to accept that there are Juveniles who commit heinous murder as well. It becomes even more challenging when deciding what consequences the Juvenile will face. It is crucial to understand that there can be many factors that play into a role which might influence the murder the Juvenile has committed. In other words, Juveniles should not be treated as adults and thus possibly given a life sentence . Many elements of the juvenile should be taken into context. Not necessarily age, or gender, but deeper aspects that will determine their consequence . Aside from taking those deeper aspects into...
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