Proposal to Cut Down Juvenile Crime

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The problem of juvenile violence has become one of the most overwhelming problems of our time for Texas and for the United States. The problem is spread throughout the United States. The serious crimes are usually thought to be problems of the urban city, but this is no longer a problem just for the inner city. The problem has spread through the suburban areas of the city in cases just like the first example. Citizens are spending tons of money trying to fight the problem on their own. They purchase everything they can to combat crime. Women have mace, cars have alarms, houses have burglar bars and alarms, and many schools have metal detectors to try to control the overwhelming effects of violence (Defending 93). However, these efforts are not enough to overcome the effects of violence, such as man pictured below with an automatic weapon in the streets of his neighborhood (Gest p.29). All jail and court information leads to the outcome that there is a wide diversity of criminals in jail. There is no longer a predictable profile for a juvenile criminal. However, most of the criminals still come from the inner city. Due to a 21% estimated rise in the number of 15 to 19 year olds by the year 2005, the problem will get worse without a better plan. The American juvenile justice system is supposed to be the system that prevents juveniles form committing crimes, but the system was designed over 100 years ago to prevent minor crimes from occurring (LaCoya 12/2/94). The current system in Texas and throughout most of the United States allows juveniles to receive a less severe penalty than an adult who is convicted of the same crime. The current Texas system does not allow juveniles to be prosecuted as an adult until they are eighteen unless...

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...nce at almost any cost. My planned proposal will take millions of dollars and a long time to implement. However, Texans need the program because society cannot function with the overwhelming amount of violence in today's world. The programs call for drastic changes in education, apprehension of criminals, the judicial system, and the prison system. It is unreasonable to expect to be financially able to hold a juvenile prisoner for a long period of time. However, with this program, the prisoners would be released on an incentive program. They would have to serve a reasonable amount of time in a strict prison, but they would be eligilble to be released at the earliest possible time, if they completed their programs. By improving these areas, we would still not be able to solve the problem, but I think it would be the best program that could realistically be implemented.

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