Mary Ann Perga

A state that undertakes custody of a child is declaring that it can do a better job providing protection. This system is a powerful agent of support, providing positive nurturing environments that enable a child to reach his or her potential. Nonetheless, when children suffer additional abuse in the system, this government intervention should be questioned.

Children causing trouble is a common sight for most young parents; however, some children indulge in these acts a little too frequently. With parents off at work and children home, children have more time to develop bad habits and commit

Many people say that parents take care of their kids a certain way through what they believe in or were they came from. Some parents believe that the only way the child will learn from their mistake is by physically punishing them. People think that we shouldn’t get involved because it’s not our problem. In the article, “U.S. Title: Fixing Foster Care: Fostering stability,” proves that there have been cases where parents have been caught in abusing their child but the court would usually side with them. It says, “Courts have long held that parents have a fundamental right to raise their children as they see fit, and that social and cultural norms for attention, affection, supervision, and discipline vary widely.”

Anthony Edward Sowell was supposed to be a low risk inmate after his release from prison in June of 2005. He had served 15 years in prison for rape. Anthony Sowell moved in with family directly following his release. He moved into a Cleveland home on Imperial Avenue. Soon, residents started to complain about a pungent odor coming from Anthony’s home. Sowell blamed the source of the odor on a nearby sausage factory, and a new sewage pipe that had just been put in. Police then began to get reports of missing women, all from around the same area. Police received reports of a naked

Many law makers do not fully grasp the inherent problems with these laws. Instead, they place the responsibility on the defense lawyers to present the case well enough in hopes that a battered woman will be found not guilty of child abuse by omission (Askins). Beyond the legislature, the court system must also be held accountable for its part in the process. The prosecution in the Lindley case could not recall an instance in which a father was tried under these laws. In such cases, prosecutors essentially blame the victims for the abuse wrought upon them and their children. They continually beg the question, “why did she not leave” but fail to remember the abuser maintains power by threatening to take the woman’s life or that of her children. In the unlikely case a father is tried, he is rarely held responsible. A court found a father whose wife murdered their child to not have responsibility to protect their child and also found the sympathy of the

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

By 1986 mostly every state required other professions that work with families, such as nurses, teachers, and school staff, to be mandated to report child abuse (Hines et al., 2013, p. 51). Since the book took place in the 1970’s neither the teachers nor the staff reported to child protective services (CPS). Instead of reporting to CPS about the bruises or the reason as to why David was stealing food the teacher discussed her concerns to the principal and he called to discuss the matter with the David’s mother. Of course the mother sounded very convincing in explaining David wanted attention. Over the years there was been prevention programs with the goal of improving parenting skill and knowledge. There are primary prevention programs that target the general population through media campaigns. The secondary prevention programs focus on the populations that are high risk for abusing their children the goal is to provide them with skills and knowledge to prevent abuse. The tertiary prevention program provides the appropriate interventions to ensure that the families who already experiences abuse won’t happen again (Hines et al., 2013, p.

Children whose parents have been detained and imprisoned confront a variety of difficulties. The behavioral consequences can be severe, absent of decisive intervention, emotional withdrawal, failure in school, delinquency and risk of intergenerational incarceration. However, these children appear to become misplaced and unrecognized by the criminal justice system (Dallaire, Zeman, & Thrash, 2015). Even though a significant number of children are present at the time of their mother’s arrest, law enforcement usually does not ask upon arrest whether a woman offender has children nor do sentencing judiciaries or correctional agencies ever inquire about the matter. Since agencies do not gather information regarding the children, it is vague just how many children are affected when sentencing these women (Dallaire, Zeman, & Thrash, 2015).

In the last decade, there has been growing recognition and discussion of the CPS problem as it pertains to the non-offending parent. In 1999, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges put together the Greenbook Initiative, a set of 67 recommendations aimed at remedying precisely this set of problems. But though the Greenbook gives long overdue recognition to the issue, the recommendations don't call for installing any firm checks on the system, as will be discussed in more detail in a later section.

Since the early 1990s the transfer of Juvenile waiver has been an enormously heavy topic on whether a juvenile is fully culpable of a crime or not. The option of juvenile waiver has been a proceeding ethical argument between the courts and the families of the juvenile. According to Forst and Blomquist (2012), criticism involving the juvenile system began in the 1960s and expanded into the 1970s because of the soaring crime rates. The desire for juvenile waiver began with the interpretation that the System failed because of these crime rates. Although juvenile systems across the nation, controversy surrounds the topic of Juvenile justice. There is a constant search for who is in control of the child that is being held in court.

“I used to believe are our future but now I realize that this, sadly isn’t the reality. Through laws that treat kids like adults, the government is throwing away the future of children in this country.” (D. Lee) An estimated 200,000 juveniles are tried as adults. The term juvenile refers to any young person under the age of 18. For most states in the United States, the age of majority is 18. While there are many things that juveniles are unable to do until they reach the age of 18, being charged as an adult for a crime is not amongst those things in some states. Juveniles are not allowed to vote, drink alcohol, or sign a legal contract, yet they can be charged and treated like adults when it comes to them being

(2) family conflict and child abuse- This proposition stems from issues in the possible effect of marriage, separation, or violence witnessed conflict between their parents or inflicted on them. (3) absence of positive parenting- This proposition stems from the notion that parents are their child’s first teachers and role models and Sampson & Laub (1993) explains that the impact of parents is essential in providing children with deliberate instructions in crime. (4) criminal parents-

Mary Gaitskill is an American writer who was written novels, essays, and short stories. One of the short stories that Gaitskill is most famous for is “Tiny, Smiling Daddy.” Gaitskill shows much of her creativity and abilities as a writer in this story. Compared to some of the nonfiction pieces that we have read, Gaitskill’s work of fiction is surprisingly different; it could be said that these differences are due to the contrasting elements between the

On the other hand, the advocates of the juvenile system believe that because children are not fully mentally or physically developed, they are not therefore accountable for their actions in the same way as adults (Ainsworth, 1995, p.932-933). Juvenile criminality for them is “youthful illness” brought about by external forces like environment or impoverished living conditions. Donna Bishop, an advocate of the juvenile justice system, encourages states to give these juveniles “room to reform.” She believes that a policy that is designed to discard youth in the middle of the transition to adulthood is uncharacteristic of a fair government (Bishop, 2000, p. 159). Supporters of this kind of reform program for juveniles are not amenable to the transfer to adult court

The juvenile justice system was founded on the belief that children are different from adults; therefore, the justice system and corrections sanctions for juveniles should acknowledge the differences. “Rising juvenile crime rates during the 1970s and 1980s spurred state legislatures across the country to exclude or transfer a significant share of offenders under the age of eighteen to the jurisdiction of the criminal court” (Fagan, 2008). The acknowledgement of these differences should be the bases for a proper juvenile justice system. The examination of the juvenile justice’s systems history, trends, and causation theories will provide an insight into the future of the juvenile justice system.