There has always been controversies as to whether juvenile criminals should be tried as adults or not. Over the years more and more teenagers have been involved in committing crimes. In some cases the juries have been too rough on the teens. Trying teens as adults can have a both positive and negative views. For example, teens that are detained can provide information about other crimes, can have an impact in social conditions, and serve as experience; however, it can be negative because teens are still not mature enough for that experience, they are exposed to adult criminals; and they will lose out on getting an education. One of the advantages of detaining teens as adults is that they are taken into custody and questioned for information about any other clubs or gangs with whom they might be involved. There are some programs trying to track down gangs; on of these is the National Gang Center (NGC). “The NGC is the first gang survey in the country that annually catch an average of 300 gang members from teen evidence.” (Howell, 52) Having programs and organizations like this has helped a lot by putting criminals behind bars and straightening them out. Another positive thing about trying juveniles as adults is that those juveniles are taken from their neighborhood, and by doing this it opens the eyes of other teens who are around watching everything that happens. “We once arrested a teen right in the middle of his block. You should've seen everyone out of their houses watching the incident.” ( Chief Hernandez, 62) According to his words he seemed surprised on how of an impact it was to the rest of the community watching. Reports showed that gang violence decreased in that neighborhood that year. Teens look out of what i... ... middle of paper ... ...g really affected by the outcome of the situation. By stopping these hard sentences on juveniles, it will give teens the chance of a lifetime to change their path. This way they won’t have to endure all this cruel punishment and get traumatized for life. Today it is mostly parents who can control their children by monitoring their actions, but also it’s up to the juries an trying them with a lesser sentence or teaching them a lesson. Works Cited Freehan, Jennifer. More Youths Certified to Stand Trial as Adults. 13 May. 2013. Web. 9 Jan. 2014 Gerdes, Louise I. Juvenile Crime Opposing Views. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. 2012. Print. Haugen, David and Susan Musser. Teen Rights and Freedom Juvenile Justice. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. 2013. Print. Thompson, Lisa. Judge: Teen gets’ Break of his Life’ in Robbery Sentence. 08 Nov. 2013. Web. 08 Jan. 2014.
The article titled “ Juvenile Justice from Both Sides of the Bench”, published by PBS, and written by Janet Tobias and Michael Martin informs readers on numerous judges’ opinions on the juveniles being tried as adults. Judge Thomas Edwards believed that juveniles should not be tried as adults because they are still not mature enough to see the consequences of their actions and have a chance to minimize this behavior through rehabilitation programs. Judge LaDoris Cordell argues that although we shouldn’t give up on juveniles and instead help them be a part of society, however, she believes that some sophisticated teens that create horrible crimes should be tried as adults. Bridgett Jones claims that teens think differently than adults and still
In today's society juveniles are being tried in adult courts, given the death penalty, and sent to prison. Should fourteen-year olds accused of murder or rape automatically be tried as adults? Should six-teen year olds and seven-teen year olds tried in adult courts be forced to serve time in adult prisons, where they are more likely to be sexually assaulted and to become repeat offenders. How much discretion should a judge have in deciding the fate of a juvenile accused of a crime - serious, violent, or otherwise? The juvenile crime rate that was so alarming a few years ago has begun to fall - juvenile felony arrest rates in California have declined by more than forty percent in the last twenty years. While California's juvenile population rose by a half a million since the middle and late 1970's, juveniles made up less than fifth-teen percent of California's felony arrests in 1998, compared to thirty percent in 1978; according to the Justice Policy Institute. The juvenile arrests have dropped back, even as the population of kids between ages of ten and eight-teen has continued to grow, and the number of kids confined in the California Youth Authority (CYA) has fallen. With all the progress our society has made in cutting back in juvenile crimes there is still a very serious problem. But if locking kids up is the best way to address it, how do we explain a drop in crime when there are more teens in California and fewer in custody? First we must look at the economy around us. With so many job opportunities available more and more teenagers find honest ways to keep busy and make money. Our generation has a brighter future than the generation a decade ago. Next we look at successful crime prevention efforts: after-school programs, mentoring, teen outreach programs, truancy abatement, anti-gang programs, family resource centers. There is evidence that these programs are beginning to pay off. Sending more, and younger teens through the adult court system has been a trend across the country in reaction to crimes, such as school shootings and violent rapes. Yet evidence shows that treating youth as adults does not reduce crime. In Florida, where probability wise more kids are tried as adults then in any other state, studies found that youth sent through the adult court system are twice as likely to commit more crimes when they're release...
Wolf, Isaac. "Youths in Adult jail face higher risk, longer wait for trial." ABC News 2. ABCNews2, 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
According to most legislation, a person under the age of eighteen is not considered an adult. It has been proved that a person does not mature mentally until about age twenty five. Many basic adult rights are not granted to juveniles because they are not responsible enough to assume the role of an adult. It goes without saying that the law regards those under the age of eighteen as minors, and so these minors shall not ever be treated as an adult in a court of law. Three basic reasons that minors should not be tried as adults are the decreased mental capacity of juveniles, the basic adult rights that are not granted to juveniles, and the fact that prison is an unsuitable environment for minors. Juveniles and adult do not have a parallel mental capacity; therefore, a juvenile should not be tried as an adult in a court of law, and should instead be subject to separate age-specific judicial procedures and legislation.
Having to grow up in a prison, especially one where they do not care about your feelings, really impacts him cognitively. I think juveniles should not be trialed as adults because there is harsher punishment. According to PBS, "Most leniently parents who kill their children but most harshly child in who kill their parents". During adolescent development decision making is weak, which comes from the brain being so vulnerable. I think in the special case of juveniles they are not harden criminals. In the cases of Jacob Ind and Nathan Ybanez I feel as if the teenagers had a build up of bottled emotions, and couldn't handle it anymore. With the brain being so vulnerable and decision making being so weak I think the teens snapped. After years of abuse and sadness I think the teens thought as if there was no other way out. Either the parents die or they do. Instead of being trialed as adults and spending life in prison, I think adolescents who commit crime should have an alternative that will not negatively impact their brain development. I think the problem derives from the adolescents seeking the wrong coping mechanism. If the adolescents could experience help from adults and professional rather than channeling it through violence and drugs, less crime from adolescents would
John P. Wright, Kären M. Hess, Christine H. Orthmann. "Juvenile Justice." Cengage Learning; 6 edition, 2012
Guilty! As the gavel hits the sound block, everyone is amazed at the verdict. This teenage boy is sentenced to a life in prison without parole. As you read this in newspapers, magazines, and even online, what goes through your head? You may be thinking, “Why is this teen being tried as adult, he is just a kid?” While he is “just a kid”, and this is a widely held opinion, but it is not mine. Should minors who commit violent crimes be tried as adults? Absolutely. Just because minors are young they do have the ability to know what is right from wrong. Since these minors have committed the crime, they need to be held accountable. If a minor has acted as an adult, they need to be treated like adults. Lastly, minors need to know that their actions have consequences, no matter what age.
A report issued by Amnesty International in 1998, based on data from the Department of Justice and from individual states, estimates that as many as 200,000 youth under the age of eighteen, some as young as thirteen, are prosecuted in adult court annually. The action of sending children into the adult criminal justice system contrasts greatly with the traditional view that delinquent children need help to turn their lives around in order to succeed in their futures. Judges are said to refrain from giving the younger children harsh punishments, even if they commit the exact same crime as someone eighteen or older. Additionally, there are problems with trial by jury in regard to the juvenile cases; juries are just regular citizens and most of them tend to sympathize with kids who are being tried severely. Lastly, offenders who are tried in adult court before legally being considered adults will face many hardships when their release date comes, leading to likely failure to flourish in the rest of their lives. Transferring juveniles to criminal court puts unnecessary strain on the already fearful child and therefore if the offender is 18 or younger, they should stay in juvenile court to receive their sentence and become free citizen who can have a positive impact on their community and society as a whole.
Humes, Edward. No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.
To begin with, by giving juveniles harsh sentencing it creates a message of lost hope. It can give an impression that there is no hope of them ever becoming anything but a criminal and convict. This is damaging for all of society and especially for the young offender and their family. They wouldn't be able to survive in society.
In today’s society it is not who or whom it is what. Juvenile offenders are now facing a two court system, not only can they be tried in juvenile court for a crime committed. They are now being charged as adults in adult court. Charging a juvenile as an adult has stirred up ...
A deep look into juveniles in adult prisons. Touch bases on several smaller issues that contribute to juveniles being in and effects of adult prisons. The United States Bureau of Prisons handles two hundred and thirty-nine juveniles and their average age is seventeen. Execution of juveniles, The United States is one of only six countries to execute juveniles. There are sixty-eight juveniles sitting on death row for crimes committed as juveniles. Forty-three of those inmates are minorities. People, who are too young to vote, drink alcohol, or drive are held to the same standard of responsibility as adults. In prisons, they argue that the juveniles become targets of older, more hardened criminals. Brian Stevenson, Director of the Alabama Capital Resource Center said, “We have totally given up in the idea of reform of rehabilitation for the very young. We are basically saying we will throw those kids away. Leading To Prison Juvenile Justice Bulletin Report shows that two-thirds of juveniles apprehended for violent offenses were released or put on probation. Only slightly more than one-third of youths charged with homicide was transferred to adult criminal court. Little more than one out of every one hundred New York youths arrested for muggings, beatings, rape and murder ended up in a correctional institution. Another report showed a delinquent boy has to be arrested on average thirteen times before the court will act more restrictive than probation. Laws began changing as early as 1978 in New York to try juveniles over 12 who commit violent crimes as adults did. However, even since the laws changed only twenty percent of serious offenders served any time. The decision of whether to waive a juven...
The U.S made legal history in 1989 when the world’s first juvenile court opened in Chicago (Rank, J.) Since 1990 many states have also adopted the “get tough” approach to juvenile justice as a response to the increasingly violent crimes committed by children. Juvenile crime escalated to an all time high, and then started to decrease in 1995 when images on television, such as the Springfield, Oregon, rampage of 15-year-old Kip Kinkel who shot both of his parents and then two of his classmates. The impression of citizens in the United States was that juvenile crime is out of control. (Levinson) Now Juveniles are being prosecuted a lot more than adults in adult courts.
Today?s court system is left with many difficult decisions. One of the most controversial being whether to try juveniles as adults or not. With the number of children in adult prisons and jails rising rapidly, questions are being asked as to why children have been committing such heinous crimes and how will they be stopped. The fact of the matter is that it is not always the children's fault for their poor choices and actions; they are merely a victim of their environment or their parents. Another question asked is how young is too young. Children who are too young to see an R rated film unaccompanied are being sent to adult prisons. The only boundaries that seem to matter when it comes to being an adult are laws that restrain kids from things such as alcohol, pornography, and other materials seen as unethical. Children that are sent to adult prison are going to be subjected to even more unprincipled ideas and scenes. When children can be sent to jail for something as minor as a smash and grab burglary, the judicial system has errors. The laws that send juveniles to adult prisons are inhumane, immoral, and unjust. Kids are often incompetent, which leads to unfair trials. Adult prisons are also very dangerous for minors, and in many cases this leads to more juvenile crimes.