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Effect of social media on youth
Solutions to problems of juvenile delinquency
Effect of social media on youth
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Juvenile justice is one of the controversial topics in America today. Life is evaluated on how we chose to live it, whether good or bad. Many children, however, choose to live life carelessly and end up being labeled as what we call juvenile criminals. Juvenile criminals (delinquents) are minors, usually between the ages of ten to eighteen. As everyone’s simple logic, childrens brains aren’t fully developed through these stages of life. So why is the justice system sentencing these uneducated children as adults? It depends on the crime to be honest, at least for the justice system. No matter the crime, children should not be sentenced and tried as adults. There are many ways to help and educate these underdeveloped children on what’s right …show more content…
The world is responsible for the way children act, to be honest. Children are the way they are because of the people around them. They can inherit violent ways from their parents and/or friends. Social media plays a big part as well and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent the pressure that is showcased on social media. “We in America have to own this particular problem, with weapons so easily available to our youth, and the violence-loving culture in which we raise them” (Jenkins 91). Growing up with these certain let’s say “privileges” is one big problem and answer to the way children act today. With all these resources right at everyone’s hands, they can get a hold of anything so easily. There are many options, however, to support and fix these children that grow up into this particular way. If juveniles commit a serious crime, there are other ways of solving their problems other that sentencing them to what an adult would be sentenced to. It would be a fabulous idea to build facilities that offer education and care for these children after their court trials. These children would be assigned to one of these facilities as a “rehab” station and can better themselves for their future. Gail Garinger, author of the article Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences, talks about his opinion on the cruel sentencing of some juveniles. “As a former juvenile court judge, I have seen firsthand the enormous capacity of children to change and turn themselves around” (Garinger 94). Gail Garinger is a former juvenile court judge in Massachusetts from 1995 to 2008 and is the child’s advocate, appointed by the governor. As being a former juvenile court judge, one would conclude that a lot of knowledge would be coming from that particular individual and lots of trust can be made. Garinger saw the
Within the last five years, violent offenses by children have increased 68 percent, crimes such as: murder, rape, assault, and robbery. Honestly, with these figures, it is not surprising at all that the Juveniles Courts focus less on the children in danger, and focus more on dangerous children. This in fact is most likely the underlying reasoning behind juveniles being tried as adults by imposing harsher and stiffer sentences. However, these policies fail to recognize the developmental differences between young people and
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
According to the article of “Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults?” at Buzzle.com, “It is a proven fact that when a child is at the age around nine or ten that they do not have the mental accessibility to think as an adult” (Borkar). Citizens see this statistic as a reason as to why children should not be tried as adults. “Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted in adult prisons than in juvenile facilities” (Equal Justice Initiative). These juveniles are subject to much harsher punishments which includes life sentencing (Michon). These people do not feel that these children should be in a prison for the rest of their life for something they did when they were 13. Broken families can be a reason for a child to rebel and become trouble. “Psychology speaking, it is said that there are no ‘problem children’ but only ‘problem parents’” (Borkar). Parents roles are to guide their kids in the right way. Children will not know what is right or wrong if parents do n...
sentenced to age-appropriate punishments that allow them to learn from their mistakes and rehabilitate, rather than being subjected to the ultimate punishment of death. The evidence presented by Horn (2009) and Stevenson (2014) clearly shows that juveniles are not fully developed and lack the necessary experience and judgment to be held to the same standards as adults. Therefore, it is imperative that the justice system recognizes the unique circumstances of juvenile offenders and provides them with appropriate rehabilitation and support rather than resorting to cruel and unethical punishments such as the death penalty. 2008). The evidence clearly shows that children in adult prisons are at a high risk of being sexually assaulted and mistreated.
“Morals are inherent from birth” (Wilde). Children, like adults, should know wrong from right. A child’s upbringing does impact them a little, but it’s in their nature to know right from wrong. One may say that a child is going to become hardened after they get out of jail, but it’s also the same for adults. Kids should be treated as adults since they can commit the same crimes as adults. “The juvenile court was created to handle juvenile offenders on the basis of their youth rather than their crimes” (cliffs notes). This is unfair because they base their decisions on how old the child is. What do they think this is, school? In school, they basically teach children based on their age, not on how much they know already. The court system shouldn’t be like school.
...ing with young minds and punishing them in juvenile courts may be of advantage to the young people and at the same time reduce propagating them into developing a violent future in criminal activities. Correctional facilities that address and cater for the juveniles are the way forward to streamlining the youths (Kristin, page4).
Juveniles deserve to be tried the same as adults when they commit certain crimes. The justice systems of America are becoming completely unjust and easy to break through. Juvenile courts haven’t always been known to the everyday person.
"Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time." -- David Grusin and Morgan Ames
once the minor has committed a violent crime, they are no longer a kid. The minor had the ability to know right from wrong, but he still chose to commit the heinous crime anyway. Choosing to commit this violent crime means that the minor chose to act as an adult and must be held accountable. Once the minor has made the decision to act as an adult, they must be treated as an adult. If we do not teach minors that what they did has consequences they will never learn. Arguments can be made that minors should not be treated as adults and while these arguments do have merit, they are not my beliefs. In my opinion, minors who commit violent crimes need to be tried as adults. Justice does not discriminate when it comes to age. Right is right, and wrong is wrong and the wrong should be punished equally.
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.
While many argue that juveniles who commit serious crimes, such as murder, should be treated as adults, the fact is, juveniles under the age of eighteen, are not adults, and should not be treated as such. Juveniles are not mature enough or developed psychologically, and, therefore, do not consider the consequences of their actions. In the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” by Thompson, the writer argues that juveniles are not adults. Their brains develop at different stages and they learn skills that they need to learn at a certain time.
Juvenile justice centers are detrimental to society and will ruin the lives of many children. Juvenile justice centers put children behind in schools and can be a effectively destroying the mental states of the children by using methods such as solitude for punishment. If the use of juvenile justice centers continue then future generations can be seriously affected in a negative way nevertheless juvenile justice centers do provide a place for children to learn about responsibility. First, Juvenile justice centers put children behind school. In the report “Juvenile justice system schools “do more harm than good”” they state that for the 70,000 children incarcerated on any given day across the nation is “substandard.”
In most states juvenile delinquency are criminal acts committed by minors’ ages 10 to 18 years old, the crimes are categorized as status offenders or delinquent offenders. Offenses committed by status offenders can only be committed because the offender is a minor, such as running away from home, truancy and underage drinking. (Mooney, pg 115) then there are delinquent offenders whose offenses would be a crime if they were committed by an adult. Depending on the nature of the crime, minors are tried in a juvenile justice system or can be transferred to the adult justice system. According to the Campaign for Youth Justice, it is estimated 1.7 million youths are in the juvenile justice system with 100,000 cases being heard in juvenile court annually. Currently, it is estimated that 70% of the youths arrested are boys and 30% are girls, although African-Americans make up only 17% of the total youth population, they are 30% more likely than white youth to face harsher sentences and be transferred into the adult
There are many alternatives that can allow these youths to receive the attention and care they need, while still holding the child accountable, without placing them in a facility that may do more harm than good or set these children up to be career criminals. There are more therapeutic and less expensive avenues for these young offenders other than
Juvenile delinquency is one of the major social issues in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is when “a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Merriam-webster.com). Although we have one justice system in America, the juvenile system differs from the adult juvenile system. Most juvenile delinquents range from as low as the age of seven to the age of seventeen. Once the delinquent or anyone turns the age of eighteen, they are considered an adult. Therefore, they are tried as an adult, in the justice system. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. In addition, there are a variety of effects that juvenile justice systems can either bad effects or good effects. Finally there are many different solutions that can reduce juvenile delinquency. As a result, juvenile delinquency is a major issue and the likeliness of it can be reduced. In order to reduce juvenile delinquency there has to be an understanding of the causes and the effects.