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Children Should Be Tried As An Individual Juvenile Criminal Justice System

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There’s an old saying, “don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time”. Our youth is doing the crimes, not realizing the true consequences of their actions; hence their immaturity. “Per a 2011 report on the National Institute of Corrections, 250,000 minors wind up in the adult criminal justice system each year.” (Hannum, 2016). But that does not mean, they should be tried as an adult for their crimes. Nor should they get off easy because they are under the age of eighteen. You can pick any day of the week, about 10,000 of our children are being put in adult prisons and jails. (Hannum, 2016). Nearly every year, the FBI arrest more than 33,000 young adults under the age of eighteen for offenses.” (Khan, 2010.). It’s time for society and our…show more content…
But they know eventually they will have their privileges returned. But to say they truly understand that if they go to commit a crime that they may lose their freedom, they don’t think it can happen to them. “Recent research by psychologists demonstrates that, relative to adults, adolescents are: less likely to foresee the consequences of their actions, more influenced by peer pressure, more likely to act rashly and without thought about their behaviors, and less likely to comprehend the law and their legal rights.” (Kupchik, 2007).
Problem Two Secondly, it being based on race/ethnic background of the juvenile and not based on the crime or the individual person. How many times have you watched television and seen a Caucasian, African American and Latino person commit the same crime but the charges may differ and the sentencing is not equal. Of the three nationalities, the Caucasian will be charged with the same crime but received the least amount of time. The African American is going to receive the most time of all three. Our judicial system is set up to fail in minorities. “Transfer laws exacerbate the problem of racial/ethnic imbalance that plagues the justice system. Research of transfer to criminal court generally finds that African American and Latino/a youth are more likely to be transferred to criminal court than white youth, even when controlling for their offenses and their prior records. This discrepancy
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