Juvenile Justice System In The Film 'Kids For Cash'

Children, as young as the age of seven faced many challenges while they were held with adult criminals. Some of these challenges involved: exploitation, overpopulation within

Placing a juvenile in a detention center early in the court process increases the risk that youths will be found to be delinquent and damage their prospects for future success. A majority of the youths that are placed in these facilities pose little or no threat to the public and essentially do not need to be there. This portion of the juvenile court process is detrimental to the future and mental aspects of a youth’s life. We desperately need to change the way that we handle the juvenile court system because we are only reinforcing the delinquent behavior that these youths have been exposed to. We need to focus on the rehabilitation and prevention efforts for these youths not the punishment aspect and until then (insert a better ending).

Today, in the United States, most citizens are able to appreciate the fair, balanced legal system that is in place. The country suffered many failures before establishing the United States Constitution, and later the Bill of Rights, which became the foundation of the country’s legal system and protection of the citizens’ rights (American Sentinel University). Citizens may take their right to trial or their right to due process for granted, without realizing how life was before these rights were recognized and established. Until the Constitution in 1787, the justice system was not permanent and not quite clear, causing unfair and unjust treatment. Of course, no system can be perfect, but it is possible to discover options that suit the wants

Unfair trials happen all over the world and anyway can be affected by it through biases and mistakes in the trials. Although judge and jury determine the fate of a trial, it may not always be fair because they can make mistakes during a trial and sometimes have biases and it is the law that every human has a chance to have a fair trial.

Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), the U.S. Supreme court unanimously ruled that the states are required under the Sixth Amendment to provide counsel in criminal cases to represent indigent defendants who are unable to afford to pay for their own attorneys. Gideon extended the right to counsel and enforced its requirements upon the states under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In addition to the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, the case of Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963) also stands as precedent to guarantee indigent defendants charged with serious offenses the right to court-appointed attorney at the government’s expense. The ruling in Gideon established the principle “that every man, the rich, the poor, and poor as well as rich, is entitled to the benefit of counsel” (Fortas,

According to the FBI Arrest Statistics from 1994 to 2000 the crimes committed by juveniles between the ages of 10 to 17 was reported as 80% to 65%, which was high and then slowly decrease, whereas in 2001 to 2007 the crimes committed by juveniles between the ages of 10 to 17 has increased from 68% to 75% and the crimes that are being committed range from violent crimes of rape and murder to non-violent crimes such as forgery and counterfeiting. The FBI provides their annual data files containing agency-based arrest counts to the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) within the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan with funds from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, NACJD aggregates agency-level counts to the county level, and then applies an estimation procedure to compensate for the under reporting and no reporting agencies within the county. (Puzzanchera, 2009)

Kids for Cash documentary gives an eyebrow raising gesture throughout the film, while unveiling details of stories told by juveniles. Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan sentenced more than two thousand or more juveniles during their terms. Ciavarella and Conahan inherited money through sentencing juveniles to privately owned youth detention centers. Many kids and parents would be affected by their sentencing terms. The Juvenile Law Center received numerous complaints and dug further into cases handled by Ciavarella and Conahan. Which lead to them filing a class action lawsuit against the judges and others involved. The judges were finally put on the radar and exposed to the F.B.I. and I.R.S. Ciavarella and Conahan were being investigated

The entire plea bargain system has glaring issues of fairness, morality, and process. It needs an overhaul. Plea bargains are a way to “get rid” of some cases due to the sheer number of cases in the judicial system. There are not enough resources for most cases to reach trial. Innocent defendants are often pressured and coerced into accepting plea bargains. Prosecutors create uncertainty among defendants by aggressively handling each individual each often making threats that they can not actually back up. While this is fairly effective, it is not fair to the defendants. Additionally, it more time is spent on strategy and games then on discovering the truth. However, no case should receive biased treatment. Prosecutors sometimes blatantly

Many people every day in many different places around the world await trail, or are brought to trial. The offender might not have any available resources in order for them to receive a fair trial. The Sixth Amendment was put in place to ensure everyone no matter the circumstances are entitled to a fair trial. Clarence Earl Gideon was charged of a felony under the state of Florida and could not afford his own attorney and was not appointed one either. Gideon had to appoint himself at the first trail and was sentenced to five years in prison because he was not qualify, nor did he know the rules and regulations or how to properly make an argument in court. Gideon’s trail was unfair and disobeyed the amendment that was put in place for

Juveniles committing crimes is not a new issued being introduced to society; actually, it has been an issue for centuries. However, the big question is, should juveniles be tried in adult courts? Before answering, take into consideration every possible scenario that could have led them to commit the crime. For instance, were they the leader in the act? Did they participate in the crime? Was the juvenile even aware of what was taking place? Were they peer pressured? Did they have any other choice at the time? There are so many other questions we could consider when making a decision here.

When thinking of reforming the juvenile justice system one has to think; what can we do to make this better for everyone involve? There are some programs that can be implemented when trying to make a change in the juvenile system. The main thing is getting parents or the guardian more involved in the child’s whereabouts. Secondly the community where the youth will have a place to go and have something more constructive to do to keep them out of trouble. Law enforcement can get involved in giving ride along and having visits to the local jails or prisons from the youth to talk to some of the inmates. Crime in life isn’t racist at all it has a no age limit, no certain gender and no social status for most of those whom decide to partake in a criminal activity. From the beginning juveniles have been an issue with law enforcement, the question has always arisen of whom will take control without cruel and unusual punishment and assist with the rehabilitation and prevention future crime actions.

What had happened in the "kids for cash" scandal was that Judge Mark Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan had received a finder fee from Robert Powell. It was seen as a bribe, however, because Ciavarella did not report it in his tax

There would be a constitutional issue because juvenile have certain constitutional rights at negotiation, such as the right to a lawyer and the right to challenge and interrogate witnesses, but they have no right to a trial by jury. The subject of juvenile’s rights is poorly defined in the courts, somewhat because the public as a whole has not decided how much independence to grant juvenile. When most juvenile’s supporters talk about juvenile’s rights, they are not stating to the same rights detained by adults, such as the rights to vote. Instead, they mean that more importance should be placed on juvenile’s standing as “regular persons” eligible of benefits under the law as providing in the United States Constitution and its Bill of Rights.

In most states, public safety and whether or not the needs of the juvenile defendant will

In today’s society we see all kinds of unfair cases coming in and out if the courtroom. People who have enough money to go hire a top of the line lawyer to protect them from being accounted guilty. All the while in the poor community people struggle to survive just to pay their rent, and when they commit a crime it’s hard for them to afford a top of the line lawyers. Every day you turn on the TV or the radio and hear about these celebrities that constantly get in trouble for drugs, guns, and fighting but yet when the judge sentences them it’s like they get a smack on the hand or receive the minimum sentence available. This even happens in a