Juvenile Justice Essay
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May 25, 2024
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Juvenile Justice Essay
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Juvenile Justice Essay
Roderick White
Grand Canyon University
JUS-620
Dr. Wheeler
December 1
st
, 2023
Juvenile Justice Essay
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Introduction
In the criminal justice system, the question of juvenile criminals being prosecuted and punished as adults is contentious. In the US, this has been a problem for many years. Chicago, Illinois, established the nation's first juvenile court in 1899. The Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899 gave this court its authorization. The Act granted the court jurisdiction over delinquent, dependent, and abandoned children under the age of sixteen. Rehabilitation, not punishment, was
the court's main priority (McCord, Widom, & Crowell, 2001, p. 157). "State legal reforms in juvenile justice, especially those dealing with serious offenses, have stressed punitiveness, accountability, and a concern for public safety in response to the increase in violent crime in the 1980s. They have rejected traditional concerns for diversion and rehabilitation in favor of a get-
tough approach to juvenile crime and punishment" (McCord, Widom, & Crowell, 2001, p. 155). Try punishing them as an adult is a legitimate and effective way to deal with some major violent juvenile offenses. When a juvenile commits a violent or significant crime, they should be tried as
adults in criminal court. Remaining in juvenile court is more appropriate and beneficial for less serious crimes. Both effectiveness and appropriateness Juveniles punished for comparable crimes
in juvenile court typically receive shorter terms than juveniles transferred to adult court, particularly those convicted of violent crimes. Many adolescents who are incarcerated in adult
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facilities are not there for longer than the maximum amount of time they would have served if they had been committed to a juvenile facility. These juveniles may be freed on bond for a considerable amount of time while they await
their trial in criminal court. "The assumption that more punitive, adult criminal sanctions will act as a deterrent of juvenile crimes is the basis for the nationwide policy shift toward transferring juvenile offenders to the criminal court" (Redding, 2010). Transfer laws have no effect on reducing the rate of adolescent criminality, according to two studies done in the 1980s. After the state of Idaho adopted its transfer statute in 1981, Jansen and Metsger's time-series study between 1976 and 1986 revealed a thirteen percent rise in the arrest of violent crimes by fourteen
to eighteen-year-olds (Redding, 2010). Violent juvenile crime was not discouraged by a 1978 New York State law that automatically transferred violent juvenile offenders to adult criminal court, according to a similar time-series analysis by Singer and McDowall that compared the rates between 1974 and 1984 in New York and Philadelphia (Redding, 2010). According to data compiled from fifteen states, minors who were released from state correctional facilities and prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system "were rearrested eighty-
two percent of the time, while their adult counterparts were rearrested sixteen percent less" (Scialabba, 2016). Simultaneously, studies have demonstrated that minors who were prosecuted in juvenile courts can gain from services offered by juvenile institutions that are specifically created with their development in mind. According to Scialabba (2016), juvenile offenders are frequently placed in an environment where adult criminals serve as their teachers, depriving
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them of the chance to gain "critical skills, competencies, and experiences that are crucial to their success as adults." The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency synthesized findings from six different research projects. According to these research, children charged in the adult criminal justice system often had higher rates of recidivism than juveniles with "matching" charges in juvenile court. Additionally, these young people redivided earlier and more frequently (Scialabba, 2016). "There are a number of reasons for these higher rates of recidivism, such as the adult corrections system's lack of access to rehabilitative resources, issues arising from housing adult offenders, and the direct and indirect consequences of a criminal conviction on a juvenile's prospects in life" (Scialabba, 2016). On the other hand, adult sanctions may have limited deterrent effects on adolescent criminality under specific settings, according to the findings of a multi-state analysis covering the years 1978–1993. "When youth reached the age of criminal responsibility, researchers found relative decreases in youth crime, but only in those states where the severity of
punishment varied significantly between the juvenile and criminal justice systems." In Redding (2010). This implies that when minors reach the age of criminal responsibility, heavier and more severe punitive penalties imposed by criminal courts may discourage them from committing crimes (Redding, 2010). Minors and Serious Offenses Adults convicted of capital crimes are typically sentenced to death.
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The US Supreme Court decided against the death penalty with regard to minors. In the Roper v. Simmons decision from 2005, the Supreme Court held that putting someone to death if they were under eighteen at the time of their crime violates their constitutional protection against
cruel and unusual punishment. The age of the perpetrator is a crucial factor to take into account when determining how someone should be punished, the Supreme Court acknowledged in Thompson v. Oklahoma (1988). In Stanford v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court ruled that crimes committed by minors between the ages of sixteen and seventeen are still punishable by death under the Eighth Amendment (The Death Penalty for Juveniles, nd.). Attorneys general frequently contend that minors shouldn't be classified as a specific class of criminals by the Court. As stated in The Death Penalty for Juveniles (nd.), the Court should instead "acknowledge that they all are different with respect to their experience, maturity,
intelligence, and moral culpability." In Roper v. Simmons (The Death Penalty for Juveniles, nd.),
the US Supreme Court ruled by a decision of five to four that capital punishment is not permissible for those who commit crimes before the age of eighteen. There are arguments to be made that the juvenile offender's type of offense should be taken into account by the US Supreme Court rather than only their age. Juveniles shouldn't be classed as a group of offenders, as was previously mentioned. When sentencing a juvenile, certain facts and circumstances need to be taken into account. Crimes that cause mass killings, like school shootings, should be treated
differently from other types of crimes. The death penalty should be an option for punishment for crimes like these if an investigation by law enforcement finds evidence of premeditation, such as "hit lists," floor plans
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showing the locations of explosives, the way to get firearms, and journals discussing the terror act. To ascertain the juvenile's mental stability, a mental evaluation should also be conducted. The child should be given the toughest punishment possible, up to and including the death penalty, if it is shown that they are mentally sound. In summary Juvenile court was established because society realized that minors required greater protection and that they did not have the same cognitive development as adults. As such, they would substantially benefit from rehabilitative treatments aimed at preventing or reducing recidivism. Legislators felt they had to be "tough on crime" as a result of changing social and political views, which led to an increase in the number of transfers to the adult criminal justice system (Scialabba, 2016). Mass shootings, killings, and forced rape are examples of severe violent offenses that result in the transfer of adolescents to the adult criminal justice system. It is preferable for less serious crimes to stay in juvenile court. Further evidence indicates that transfers out of juvenile court have more detrimental than beneficial effects on recidivism. Even while the US Supreme Court maintains that it is unconstitutional to execute minors for crimes committed before the criminal turns eighteen, other factors should also be taken into account before classifying these offenders according to age. In the US, there is currently no real way to completely eradicate or significantly reduce juvenile criminality, yet prosecuting them as adults hasn't yielded the outcomes lawmakers had hoped for.
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References:
Widom, C. S., McCord, J., and Crowell, N. A. (2001). juvenile justice and juvenile criminality. The National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
R. E. Redding (2010). Do juvenile transfer laws work well to prevent delinquency? OJJDP Bulletin on Juvenile Justice. doi:10.1037/e479412008-001
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N. Scialabba (2016), October 3. In the criminal justice system, should minors be charged as adults? Accessed December 1, 2023, via https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/childrens
rights/articles/2016
/should-juveniles-be-charged-as-adults/
The Death Sentence for Children. (As of now). taken from https://capitalpunishmentincontext.org/issues/juveniles on December 1, 2023.