Age-Graded Theory

One risk is a recurring theme over the various modules that have been covered during this course, which is the developmental difference between juveniles and adults. Juvenile’s brain, mental capacity, emotional capacity, etc… is not fully developed during adolescence. This immaturity among these different development features leads to juvenile offenders not being as culpable and not being competent enough to stand trial in the adult criminal justice system(Lecture). Another risk with transferring youth is the increase of criminality among juveniles that are introduced to the adult criminal justice system. As the adult system is more focused on punishing the offender for the crime committed the juvenile justice system is more focused on the individual and correcting their behavior to rehabilitate that individual(McGowan et.al., 2007). A third risk is the effectiveness of transferring juvenile offenders to the adult system. Those juveniles that get transferred are more likely to continue to reoffend and get re arrested on violent crime charges (McGowan et.al,

This paper will first define culpability, explore its various levels and examine how it is used during sentencing. Next, this paper will examine literature that supports the belief that age is not the key factor in determining culpability and should not be used to determine guilt or innocence during trial. Finally, this paper will suggest that trying juveniles as adults and remanding them into adult facilities is ineffective at decreasing juvenile crime rates. These issues will be reviewed to determine if physical (chronological) age is a justifiable cause to lessen culpability or an excuse used to mask the ineffective research efforts of lawmakers.

Paper presented as a part of a Congressional Research Briefing entitled “Juvenile Crime: Causes and Consequences,” Washington, January 19, 2000. Address correspondence to the author at the Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, or at lds@vm.temple.edu.

Correlating to the tenth chapter we are studying in the field of criminology, this article can best relate to the Developmental Perspective theory (Walsh and Hemmens 2014). This theory makes the argument that most criminal involvement occurs or begins in adolescence (Walsh and Hemmens 2014). Developmental Perspective theory makes the case that an individual’s criminal propensity develops and forms at a young stage in life (Walsh and Hemmens 2014). This theory explores the acceleration and declaration of offending and criminal acts (Walsh and Hemmens 2014). The Developmental Perspective theory tries to corroborate with the idea that age causes a decrease in negative emotionality, as well as an increase in conscientiousness (Walsh and Hemmens 2014). Rebecca is one of the over nine thousand American prisoners who are now

In our society, a juvenile is eligible to vote at the age of 18, allowed to drive in some states at the age of 16, and permitted to drink at the age of 21. Therefore, it is logical to determine that a juvenile under the age of eighteen is mature enough to be charged as an adult when they commit violent crimes (Chiou, 131). According to the Justice Department, about ten percent of homicides occurring in the United States are committed by juveniles under the age of eighteen (abcnews.go.com). When the question of whether or not juveniles who commit violent crimes should be tried as adults arises, debates always surface. The debaters have a difficulty resolving this conflict because there are multiple perspectives on

Committing violent offences as a juvenile did not necessarily lead to violent offending in adulthood, with offenders even over the course of their criminal career commit non-violent offences Moffit’s (1993) adolescent limited theory is back up with McGrath (2015) findings suggesting the violence in youth offending dose not determine if juveniles will go on to have a violent criminal

Benjamin, Thanks for your post. Sampson and Laub's age-graded theory seems to have some great points. When I read this it seems to be a little vague on the way the state could specifically implement this to discourage or decrease crime. Although I do think this might be a great theory on a more individual basis. It has aspects of Edwin Sutherland's differential association theory, such as experience can dictate and change the course of ones life. This is similar in the way that the experiences allowed the person to learn something they might not have already known. I think we could use the age-graded theory but would need to be more specific on an action plan and maybe use a few other theories to dive deeper.

Imagine waking up one day and knowing that the teenager that killed your loved one was just released from prison because of his or her age. One might believe that it is an injustice to let a criminal out of jail just because of young age, while others think that it is fair. However, as time goes on, children commit more crimes. Criminals are getting younger and younger, and the crimes are becoming more violent and deadly. Although many people believe that it is wrong to prosecute a juvenile as an adult due to his or her mental immaturity, doing so will result in harsher punishments for the careless people, a decrease in juvenile crime, and a greater chance that children will think about their actions.

Many tough-on-crime advocates call for certain juvenile crimes to be automatically heard in adult criminal courts with convicted criminals subject to sentencing under adult standards. Such proposals focus on the gravity of the act and its immediate impact on the victim and society, rather than on the inner motivations of the young perpetrator. Although intention plays some role in determining the severity of the crime, considerations of the juvenile’s

There exist composite and acute issues that are experienced by the American Jurisprudence in the magnitude to which youthful records are used to pass verdict upon grown up lawbreakers. There exists considerations which defends the crimes by youths which states that the crimes are neither committed are not with satisfactory capability, hence no adequate justice to judge them with the transgressions during adulthood (Sanborn 1997).

Based on the growing number American youth, their supposed moral poverty (not being taught right from wrong) and the propensity of each generation to engage in more dangerous crimes than its predecessors, John J. Dilulio Jr.’s Superpredator Theory suggested that crime rates were going to sky rocket after 1995 due to the rise of a new “superpredator” generation of mostly male criminals (Dilulio 1995: p. 6). He claimed “the research indicated that Americans are sitting atop a demographic crime bomb” (Dilulio 1995: p. 2). Instead, crime decreased drastically (Class Notes 2/2/2016). Unfortunately, due to the theory’s rapid spread in media and the public conscious, previously decreasing crime rates were met with harsher sentences and trying more youth in adult courts (Class Notes 2/2/2016). Although the Superpredator Theory proved false, it played a major role in the public policy development of the American juvenile justice

For the past three decades, communities across nations have had a dramatic increase in the rates of juvenile crimes. In fact, the current statistics indicate that the crimes committed by the youth have been well beyond the historical levels (Belshaw, 2006). The escalating trends, severity, and incidence of the crimes committed by the youth may be attributed to a number of risk factors. Among the contributing factors of the criminal

America has seen an abrupt drop of juvenile offenses since 1996 (Reaves 4). However, the U.S justice system is still torn on the punitive actions assigned to youth felons. Numerous states have enacted harsher regulations to try adolescent convicts (Collier 6). Nevertheless, juvenile criminals are mentally divergent from mature convicts, lacking in guidance and support from guardians, and have miniscule options and opportunities to live and survive other than crime. Youth offenders are in need of a revised justice system that applies to their different behaviours and development.

In today’s society most crimes are committed by juveniles. Many of these young offenders tend to not learn from their mistakes the first time which leads to more crime in America. If juveniles were tried as adults, it would lower the crime rate in America. . The justice department estimates that about 10% of all homicides are committed by people under the age of 18 (Clarke, 2015). However, an argument could be made that transfer laws are increasing the total average of juveniles committing crimes in general (Children in prison, 2014). That seems unlikely, because studies show that 30 to 40 percent of boys commit violent offenses by the time they turn 17(Children in prison, 2014).

Juvenile crime is an increasing concern, in which numerous theorist continue to assert the probable causes and effects of juvenile delinquency (peaking during teenage phase 15-19) and its increasing provocations into adulthood (declining during the early twenties 40-60%) (National Institute of Justice, 2014).