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Juvenile should be sentence as adults
Consequence of juvenile crime
Juvenile life sentences
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I will be sentencing Nathan Ybanez as a youth. His sentence will be 1 year of intensive rehabilitation custody, jail for 1 year, probation for 3 years with an attendance order at a University, and 125 hours of community service. This sentence will be meaningful because he will serve time but not too much that it will make him feel like he will never get out. It will also make sure that he knows what he did was wrong. Rehabilitation will be no trouble for Nathan because he will be educated not only with schooling but also with emotional issues that may pop up in the future. Reintegration will be simple for Nathan because he will have supervised time in society and will be learning through the process.
In June 2014, Justin Bourque was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder after shooting three RCMP officers and wounding two others in Moncton, New Brunswick (Chronicle Herald 2014). He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for seventy-five years (Chronicle Herald 2014). Bourque’s sentence is unprecedented and is the longest sentence in Canadian history (Chronicle Herald 2014). A Canadian judge has not given a harsh a punishment since the final executions in 1962 (Chronicle Herald 2014).
A plea bargain is compliance between a prosecutor and defendant in which the accused offender agrees to plead guilty in return for some compromise from the prosecutor. The New Jim Crow, explains how most Americans have no clue on how common it is for people to be prosecuted without proper legal representation and are sentenced to jail when innocent out of fear. Tens of thousands of poor people go to jail every year without ever talking to a lawyer that could possibly help them. Over four decades ago, the American Supreme Court ruled that low-income people who are accused of serious crimes are entitled to council, but thousands of people are processed through America’s courts annually with a low resource lawyer, or no lawyer at all. Sometimes
In California in 2000, Gary Ewing stole three golf clubs worth $399 each. The crime itself was not egregious; however, Ewing was on parole for a prior offense and was convicted for felony grand theft (“Ewing v. California”, n.d.). Under the three strikes law, it was discovered that he had previously been convicted for four serious or violent felonies. The court, at their discretion, had the option to reduce the conviction to a misdemeanor. Instead, it sentenced Ewing to 25 years to life in prison which felt was “grossly disproportionate” under the Eighth Amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. The State Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling as did the United States Supreme Court who ruled that the 25 year to life sentence was
Heinous crimes are considered brutal and common among adults who commit these crimes, but among children with a young age, it is something that is now being counted for an adult trial and punishable with life sentencing. Although some people agree with this decision being made by judges, It is my foremost belief that juveniles don’t deserve to be given life sentencing without being given a chance at rehabilitation. If this goes on there’s no point in even having a juvenile system if children are not being rehabilitated and just being sent off to prison for the rest of their lives and having no chance getting an education or future. Gail Garinger’s article “ juveniles Don’t deserve Life sentence”, written March 14, 2012 and published by New york Times, mentions that “ Nationwide, 79 adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison-a sentence not imposed on children anywhere else in the world. These children were told that they could never change and that no one cared what became of them. They were denied access to education and rehabilitation programs and left without help or hope”. I myself know what it’s like to be in a situation like that, and i also know that people are capable of changing even children when they are young and still growing.
The criminal justice system has been in place the United States for centuries. The system has endured many changes throughout the ages. The need for a checks and balances system has been a priority for just as long. Federal sentencing guidelines were created to help create equal punishments among offenders. Judges are given the power of sentencing and they are not immune to opinions, bias, and feelings. These guidelines are set in place to allow the judge to keep their power but keep them within a control group of equality. Although there are a lot of pros to sentencing guidelines there are also a lot of cons. Research has shown that sentencing guidelines have allowed the power to shift from judges to prosecutors and led to sentencing disparity based on sex, race, and social class.
For years now, incarceration has been known to be the center of the nation’s Criminal Justice Center. It’s no secret that over time, the criminal justice center began experiencing problems with facilities being overcrowded, worldwide, which ended up with them having to make alternative decisions to incarceration that prevent violence and strengthen communities. These new options went in to plan to be help better develop sentencing criminal offenders.
Butler, Frank (2010) ‘Extinguishing All Hope: Life-Without-Parole for Juveniles’, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 49: 4, 273-292
Sentencing disparity refers to the differences in sentences that are passed down in the same instances. This can happen on a variety of fronts. It can occur with judges, in different states, states v. federal, different prosecutors, among different victims, etc. (Criminal – Sentencing…2017 p.4) A more specific definition from USLegal.com states that, “Sentence disparity refers to an inequality in criminal sentencing which is the result of unfair or unexplained causes, rather than a legitimate use of discretion in the application of the law.”. There are a variety of ways that sentencing disparity affects the justice system. There are three factors that disparity looms around; they are gender disparity, racial disparity, and age disparity. (4
During this first unit of language arts, we studied ways in which justice was served. We looked at excerpts from writers like Linda J. Collier who talked about youth criminals whose treatment was split between as a youth or as an adult due to their actions. These criminals were protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, but they committed crimes that made them worthy of being treated as adults. Prior to this first unit, I was much uninformed about how youth was treated under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, but now I am a very familiar with the YCJA, I have a new stance towards how youths are treated, and my stance is now reinforced after learning more about youth criminals.
When our thoughts turn to the criminal justice system it is only a natural instinct to assume everyone associated with policing, courts, and corrections will have to deal with juveniles sometime in their career. Young people in today’s society can be so easily influenced by social situations, peer pressure, and family members. The courts in the United States are faced with difficult decisions on a daily basis. Sentencing juveniles to adult facilities for their crimes is becoming a common trend in the justice system today; however it is not a deterrent whatsoever. “The current policies of juvenile bind over to adult criminal court and severe sentencing have been unsuccessful
Be sure to address the four types of sentencing models and the issues surrounding them (equity, truth-in-sentencing and proportionality).
The first chapter of Uncertain Justice by Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz was an interesting read, much more interesting than a textbook. I honestly didn’t think the authors took an overly liberal or conservative approach when describing Gruttinger, Fisher, Windsor, or any of the other rulings by the Court. I liked how it went into detail about the opinions of the individual justices, highlighting instances where specific justices highly disagreed with one another. The fundamental issue in this section was equality, and if we as a nation have achieved equality through recent Supreme Court rulings. It discussed perceived racial inequality relating to the use of affirmative action and violations of voting rights, as well as perceived inequality against the LGBTQ community in relation to the right of marriage.
So by punishing juveniles as adults, the others may come to the conclusion that it is not so easy to cut loose once being prosecuted as an adult. They will realize this is the real world, and that It may not be another “slap on the wrist” the next time. Teens will realize there will be no special consideration because of their age. In the article, “In Prison, Teenagers Become Prey,” by T.J Parsell, he explains using ethos, logos, and pathos to describe how some teens who become incarcerated end up killing themselves due to the fact of how horrific and traumatizing it is in jail. He states, “Most juveniles who serve time are eventually released. They will either be traumatized from sexual assault or hyper-violent from having learned to fend off the threat” (Parsell). Although teens are too “young” for prison, many still believe that life lessons will be obtained throughout the years of their punishment. It will teach them to be responsible and to think before they act. One author who believes in adult punishment is
Youth justice is a complex concern. There are many different ways to approach it — and just like anything else, everyone believes that their model is the most effective for reducing crime. Q’oranka Kilcher, an American actor once said “[…] it’s important for us as a society to remember that the youth within juvenile justice systems are, most of the time, youths who simply haven 't had the right mentors and supporters around them - because of circumstances beyond their control.” This seems fair. Youth may not be able to control their circumstances, but should they be responsible for their own actions and be punished? Or, should they be supported and encouraged in order to get rehabilitated? Different opinions influence different models. Four
Throughout the years kids have been committing terrible crimes that are just as bad as the crimes an adult would commit, sometimes even worse. These children have received life sentences with the possibility of no parole along with counseling and even rehabilitation. Many believe that putting an adolescent in jail with a life sentences is a cruel and unfair punishment. In the past couple of years the law has changed to those under 18 will not be sent to jail, only to a rehabilitation center or juvenile hall for no more than a year. People believe that is much more suitable for a teenager rather than keeping them locked away in jail for more than what they’ve lived.