Linda J. Collier’s “Adult Crime, Adult Time” is quite an interesting article, one that brings attention to a problem I had not even thought about before reading it, but it also left quite a bit to be desired. She makes her beliefs quite clear in the second paragraph; the juvenile law system is out of date, and needs to be updated. Adolescent crimes have evolved in the last few decades. Rather than truancy, vandalism and petty theft, “juveniles now are more likely are more likely to be the perpetrators of serious and deadly crimes.” Collier is a lawyer in Pennsylvania who has experience working in the juvenile court. Currently she teaches courses on juvenile delinquency at Cabrini College. Knowing this makes her a much more credible voice on this subject, and convinces readers that she knows what she is talking about. Unfortunately, she chooses not to state this outright. She only mentions very briefly in the sixth paragraph that she has represented children. Her experience and knowledge could work to her advantage, allowing her more credibility …show more content…
We get one right off the bat, and we get several more as it goes on. All of these examples help to get readers on Collier’s side. She reminds readers of shocking crimes and situations in which the juvenile court is not one in which a perpetrator should be tried. They help to provoke shock and outrage within readers, along with a want for change. She uses several statistics within the fourth paragraph of her article. It is quite startling when you first read about the increase in violent crimes amongst children. She even backs those numbers up by telling us that they are told by the U.S. Department of Justice. I have to wonder, however, whether or not these statistics are actually as shocking as they look. She states that since 1984, crimes committed by juveniles have increased by 60%. She fails, however, to state whether or not those crimes were
The book “No Matter How Loud I Shout” written by Edward Humes, looks at numerous major conflicts within the juvenile court system. There is a need for the juvenile system to rehabilitate the children away from their lives of crime, but it also needs to protect the public from the most violent and dangerous of its juveniles, causing one primary conflict. Further conflict arises with how the court is able to administer proper treatment or punishment and the rights of the child too due process. The final key issue is between those that call for a complete overhaul of the system, and the others who think it should just be taken apart. On both sides there is strong reasoning that supports each of their views, causing a lot of debate about the
In the film, “The Last Samurai”, imperialism is clearly represented in many ways. There are many instances in which western superiority is prominent. Imperialism is the act of conquering another territory and implementing your ethics and laws there. To be more specific, the film takes place in Japan. Before being forced to open up for trade by the United States, Japan was very isolated and had little communication, if anything at all, with the western world.
Judge Ciaverella took advantage of how the media sensationalizes juvenile crime in society. He visited schools and offered warnings to children that he would “be glad to” incarcerate them in the event that they engaged in delinquent behavior (Timmons 2013). Under this guise, Ciaverella appeared to have the juveniles’ best interests at heart. Ciaverella used events like the shooting of Columbine High School
The book; Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, evaluates the ideas of false accusation of innocent people (pg.33), women unjustly treated in prison (pg.239), as well as, cruel and unusual sentences for crimes committed during adolescence (pg.256). In recent years, the punishment for adolescents has been analysed, questioned, and changed to help promote fairer trials for juveniles and minors. These harsh sentences are caused by; fear of increased violence in incarcerated adolescents (pg.159), differentiation of social class (pg.155), and racial discrimination (pg.154). In Just Mercy, on page 159, it states, “ Influential criminologists predicted a coming wave of ‘super-predators’ with whom the juvenile justice system would be unable to cope” (Stevenson
News studies show a number of serious crimes being committed by children and adolescents. Criminologists' see warnings of vicious juveniles with general belief that young people are increasingly violent and uncontrollable and that the response of the juvenile justice system has been inadequate. Reacting to evidence of increases in juvenile violence, state and federal legislators have proposed, and most states have passed, laws that make the juvenile system more punitive and that allow younger children and adolescents to be transferred to the adult system for a greater variety of offenses and in a greater variety of
There are times juveniles should not be convicted as adults because sometimes the “crimes” may not harsh enough to be charged as an adult. For example, if a 8 year old saw a gun in their mother's purse and thought it was a toy and grabbed it and began to shoot who would be at fault ? Plus children in adult prisons are 10 times more likely to be taken advantage of in their time. Research shows that children prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system are more likely to reoffend than those held in the juvenile justice
Whether or not we should try juveniles as adults has always been a controversial issue. First of all, “juveniles” are children who fall under the age of 18. However, the legal age varies within certain states across the USA. Despite the age difference, some juveniles are still tried as adults. Does convicting a juvenile as an adult, turn out to be a better problem-solver, and how is this affecting the deterrence of crime?
But change that to an eight year old boy and his friends, and everyone’s opinion changes. They want to coddle the children and blame the violence on the parents, video games or social media. How does one word, juvenile, change the world’s mind so quickly-because it is in human’s nature to care for the young. People see children as clay to be melded into the perfect model of a person. When these children do something bad, they see the molder to be at fault. It is like they have they never seen a child misbehave when they are “molded” well. Children have their own brains and ideas. These ideas are their own and they are not only based on others in lives. The important thing is to see that juveniles are not children, “In the words of one 'get-tough' advocate, juvenile offenders are criminals who happen to be young, not children who happen to be criminal’” (ABC News). This perfectly sums up what juvenile crime is. It is not about the child, it is about the victim. If a juvenile is capable of committing a crime and planning it out, they should be tried for it. In one case, a boy murdered a woman after breaking into her house and her seeing his face. Instead of acting innocent, he was proud of what he had done, “Simmons wasn’t modest about what he had done; to the contrary, he had
Juvenile justice laws have changed with conservative motions and with the general ongoing swinging pendulum between rehabilitation and incarceration. During the 1990’s the pendulum swung to the right towards tough-on-crime initiatives due to an increase of violent crimes by juveniles and seemingly failed rehabilitative efforts due to high rates of recidivism. State legislatures across the country enacted statutes under which growing numbers of youths can be prosecuted in criminal courts and sentenced to prison (Piquero & Steinberg, 2007). As of 1992, “the number of youth under 18 confined in adult prisons ha[d] more than doubled during the decade prior” (USDOJ, 2000, p.4). At the time of their 2007 publication, Piquero and Steinberg reported
There are many similarities and differences between the adult and juvenile justice systems. Although juvenile crimes have increased in violence and intensity in the last decade, there is still enough difference between the two legal proceedings, and the behaviors themselves, to keep the systems separated. There is room for changes in each structure. However, we cannot treat/punish juvenile offenders the way we do adult offenders, and vice versa. This much we know. So we have to find a way to merge between the two. And, let’s face it; our juveniles are more important to us in the justice system. They are the group at they
To many Americans today, the country is a hostage-but not from oversea terrorism as one might expect to think. No today, we live in fear from our own children; and these are the same young people who we are entrusting the future of this great country with. According to the Department of Justice report released in November, thirty-eight percent of those arrested for weapons offenses in 1995 were under the age of eighteen (Curriden). In the same report, the Bureau of Justice Statistics stated that in 1995, 3 out of every 100 eighteen-year-olds were arrested for weapons offenses. A rate three times higher than for males twenty-five to twenty-nine and five times higher than for males thirty to thirty-four (Curriden).
How would you feel if your sister, brother, mom, dad, or anyone close to you were harmed in anyway? How would you feel if you knew the person who committed the crime was a juvenile?
Did you know, that in the United States alone, Over 200,000 children are charged and imprisoned every year as adults? Early in the 20th century, most states established juvenile courts to rehabilitate and not just punish youthful offenders. The system was designed for children to have a second chance at their lives. “A separate juvenile-justice system, which sought to rehabilitate and not just punish children, was part of a movement by progressives to create a legally defined adolescence through the passage of child-labor and compulsory education laws and the creation of parks and open spaces.”(How to reduce crime Pg 1) Although the view on juveniles committing brutal crimes is nearly inconceivable, it is not a solution to give juveniles adult consequences because the effects of the adult system on juveniles are not effective.
Juvenile crime statistics show that offenders under the age of 15 represent the leading edge of the juvenile crime problem. "Violent crime grew some 94% among these youngsters from 1990 to 1995- compared with 47% for older youth (Siegel and Welsh, 2011).
Juvenile crime is a major problem in today's society, nevertheless it's one of the most