Juvenile Courts Essay

Whether a child who has committed a serious crime deserves rehabilitation or harsh punishment has been argued and the Juvenile Justice System is being blamed. Children who deserve real punishment are receiving rehab and children who deserve rehab are receiving harsh punishment. Many children’s lives are getting ruined because of unnecessary harsh punishment. Some juvenile offenders are not learning their lesson. The article “Sentences Show Acknowledge Juveniles’ Maturity, and Immaturity,” by Laurence Steinburg and the article, “Remember the Victims of Juvenile Offenders,” by Jenifer Bishop-Jenkins differ not only in their views of issues surrounding the American juvenile justice system, they differ in quality; however, Steinburg who argues for rehabilitation, clearly presents the best argument using logical reasoning and relevant evidence.

The juvenile justice system is a foundation in society that is granted certain powers and responsibilities. It faces several different tasks, among the most important is maintaining order and preserving constitutional rights. When a juvenile is arrested and charged with committing a crime there are many different factors that will come in to play during the course of his arrest, trial, conviction, sentencing, and rehabilitation process. This paper examines the Juvenile Justice System’s court process in the State of New Jersey and the State of California.

The dilemma of whether or not to transfer juveniles to adult court has been a major topic, for many years, in the United States. Since 1899, judges have had the option to transfer juveniles to adult court. The major factor for transferring juveniles to adult court since then has been the seriousness of the offense. That being said, juveniles only make up a small portion of violent crimes in the United States. Only 16 percent of juvenile offenders in 2008 were arrested for violent crimes (Champion,2008). The problem is the determination of whether the crime is serious enough to be waived and transferred to adult court. Almost every state has statutory judicial waiver provisions, which grant juvenile judges the authority to transfer

The transfer of juveniles to the adult has become more prevalent (Kupchik, 2003). Transfers are due to a number of reasons. The differing age boundary among states also is partially at fault for the increase of juveniles being transferred to the adult criminal justice system (Fagan, 2008). The juvenile justice system is not always effective in handling juvenile offenders that commit serious violent crimes. Some offenders are transferred over the adult criminal justice system to serve justice when there is no hope for rehabilitation or when they think a juvenile offender would be better suited in the criminal justice system. The transfer of juvenile offenders to the adult criminal justice system is also used as a sort of deterrence method. The

The decision to transfer a youth to criminal court is a very sensitive subject to every individual who care about the young ones in society, because it pertains to our youths who are considered to be “the future.” Many will ask under what circumstances transfer should be allowed. Some believe that the best course of action regarding juvenile offenders is not transferring them to criminal court but rehabilitation – these individuals view punishment as a failed strategy for changing behavior, teaching skills, or developing new or more positive attitude and beliefs. While others believe that if they are old enough to do the crime, they should accept the court’s punishment. Over the years several young offenders have had their cases tried

When transfer to adult court juveniles’ procedural rights may increase in adult courts, but would have multiple drawbacks for a youth. Once the juvenile has transferred in criminal court, the juvenile can be sentenced to longer punishments, lose the right to vote and received educational funding by the government and will have a criminal record that can be used against him if he commits another crime. Therefore, this juvenile is being subjected to the three strikes sentencing structure. Juveniles are also victimized in the adult penal setting in which waivers have been known to increase more crimes by the youth. Juvenile retained in the juvenile system are not more likely to reoffend than those waived youths will reoffend more quickly and more often, than those

This paper takes a brief look at the history and evolution of the juvenile justice system in the United States. In recent years there has been an increase of juvenile cases being transferred into the adult court system. This paper will also look at that process and the consequences of that trend.

Young criminals have been decreasing throughout the years, many may either choose to defend or promote long juvenile sentences. Many believe juvenile’s should be tried as adults, yet don’t receive the same rights outside of prison life. So could creating a stricter punishment for juveniles create a reduction on teen crimes? Do the young convicted understand the right from wrong, or lack knowledge on what they’ve done? Opinions and concerns could be supported by both sides, whether agreeing with the long sentences or creating a new solution in order to reduce the increase of juveniles.

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

Verrecchia, P. J. (2011). The effect of transfer mechanism from juvenile court on conviction on a target

U.S. criminal law draws an important distinction between adult perpetrators of crimes and young offenders who often lack the critical faculties to fully understand the nature of their actions. Based on the belief that adolescent offenders can be rehabilitated more quickly and completely than adults, the criminal justice system has instituted a separate system for handling juvenile cases. According to the Michael A. Newland Law Office, based in Hamilton, OH, the juvenile law system offers a few major advantages to youths accused of a crime.

In recent decades, juvenile crime has become somewhat of a controversy due to the young age and immaturity of these criminals. Incidences of juvenile crime skyrocketed in the 1980s and 1990s, and policymakers pushed for laws that sent children as young as thirteen years old to trial, and even made them eligible for prison sentences. The general public has expressed a common desire to reduce the incidence of juvenile crime and find effective legislation to discipline these youths, but there are questions about these methods. What is more effective, incarceration or rehabilitation? Does criminal punishment intimidate more youths away from a life of crime, and would productive rehabilitation efforts influence these youths to becoming more valuable members of society?

Factors such as type of offense, the age of the juvenile offender, and criminal history take

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).

However, each state has different guidelines as to whom the authoritative power is given in deciding the transferral of a juvenile into the adult court system. Furthermore, a statutorial exclusion may be implemented among some states in the transferral of a juvenile into the adult court system based on the offense of the crime and the age of the juvenile (Siegel & Bartollas, 2014). In spite of these types of waivers, juveniles that have been transferred into the adult court systems and received their sentences have resulted to be a negative impact on them. Therefore, juveniles have a tendency to feel overwhelmed by older inmates and are more likely to be inspired to commit even more dangerous crimes in the future as they are influenced by older inmates (Siegel & Bartollas,