Essay On Juvenile Justice System

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“One of the most important actions that can occur in the early court processing of a juvenile offender is the transfer process, or also known as waiver” (Siegel & Welsh, 2011). Before they had a juvenile court system, juvenile offenders were treated in the Adversarial Criminal Justice System, in the same manner as adults. These influenced legislators in many countries to think of alternative procedures that could be used in dealing with youthful offenders instead of subjecting them to the harsh treatment in the criminal justice system (Siegel & Welsh, 2011). So, this led to the establishment of juvenile courts that focused more on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Court proceedings were made more informal, and youthful offenders were since distanced from the Adversarial justice system. Many states developed Juvenile court systems across the helped offenders below the age of 18 were tried for their offences.
The American judicial system has experienced changes in the recent years mostly in the juvenile system. This has been as a result of complaints from the public for the states to be tough on crime (Seiter, 2011). Some states have advanced different approaches that support for juvenile waiver and transfer. Juvenile transfer and waiver laws are statutes allowing young offenders to be transferred from juvenile courts to criminal courts. This means that they are prosecuted as if they are adult with the range of penalties being great.
After a while different states have adjusted their waiver laws. The following are the classification of the various waiver laws that have been advanced. Discretionary waiver is the provision that allows juvenile court judges to transfer a case involving a minor from a juvenile cour...

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...n conclusion, the state must guarantee that the number of youths being exposed to adult treatment is reduced if not done away with. The states must also guarantee that the proper services, treatment programs and sentencing actions that fit the juveniles are used. The transfer system and its related treatment of youthful offenders return the system back to the times when there was no juvenile justice system. But also, I don’t think all juveniles are bad. But even for the ones that are, I still don’t believe that they need a punishment that harsh. Maybe the law should give them a few years, depends on the crime that was committed. Maybe just probation and community service. The states and cities do their best to have programs for kids, but most of them prefer to be in the streets and join a gang, which is a wrong choice to make, but it makes them feel wanted.

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