Rights Of Juveniles Research Paper

Juvenile delinquency is an ever growing issue in the United States, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “In 2012, there were 3,941 arrests for every 100,000 youths ages 10 through 17 in the United States” (OJJDP, 2014). The way juveniles are treated in the criminal justice system is very different than the way adults are. In 1899, in Cook County, Illinois, the first juvenile justice system in the country was founded. This established an alternative way of dealing with offenders whom are inherently different, in the way they think and commit crimes, than those of adult age. There are a few distinct differences between the juvenile and adult criminal system, but the biggest difference is the

Juvenile courts appear to be very lenient with dealing with crimes these young juveniles commit. If juvenile courts do not want to properly deal with the juvenile crimes then adult courts should be more effective. In this process it would allow these juveniles to learn about how severe their actions are and what it can bring for their future. In the article, “Some Juvenile Offenders Should Be Treated as Adults” states, “Juvenile courts faced another challenge in the late 1980s and early 1990s: rising juvenile murder rates that led to greater public concern over the effectiveness of the juvenile courts” (Stobla, 2004). Just from this piece of evidence the juvenile courts are not doing what they need to do because the fact that juvenile murder is rising should prove that they need to be punished more severely. These juveniles need to be charged as adults to limit the killings. In the same article, it states, “In eighteen century…At the time, the law considered children under the age of seven as lacking full moral capacity and incapable of giving consent” (Stobla, 2004). Now yes certain juveniles under a certain age like seven do not quite understand the full difference of right and wrong. That does not excuse juveniles who are the ages of twelve to seventeen. Yes, they still may be young, but they should understand the concept that

Most of the time, the system has proven itself to be unsuccessful in dealing with juvenile crimeMost often, the system is unsuccessful. “There are kids who are five times more likely to be raped or otherwise sexually assaulted in adult prisons than in juvenile facilities. The risk of suicide is likewise much higher for juveniles in adult jails.”(How to reduce crime Pg 3). When juveniles are sent to jail, they are still relatively impressionable from people in the prison, and may go back into crime after they’re released, hindering rehabilitation and just creating another violent criminal in the world. The court sentencing the criminal is also at

The Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act defines juvenile delinquency as, “any act that is otherwise a crime, but is committed by someone under 18 years of age (“Juvenile Justice, 2007”)”. This act sets forth rules in which state laws must comply with in regard to juvenile court procedures and punishments. A majority of states have a criminal culpability set at 18 years of age, however culpability age can differ depending on the state. Certain states base whether a juvenile’s case should be held in juvenile court or adult court simply on the crime committed. Constitutionalist used to argue that juvenile court was unconstitutional because the principles of a fair trial and individual’s rights were denied. Their primary

Despite their young age, many states continue to try teenagers as adults, often resulting in harsher adult penalties than youth processed in the juvenile system. As teenagers are still in the process of developing into an adulthood and are still learning about what they want to do with their lives, they deserve to be tried as teenagers and not adults. Although the crimes that teenagers commit can be just as bad as those of adults. Juveniles should not be tried as adults because their brains are not fully developed, most have mental disabilities and mental illnesses, the punishment is dangerous and traumatizing for the juvenile, and there is an age restriction that protects them from being tried as an adult.

There are many known, crooked, twisted ways of our juvenile system.So many young children getting their lives destroyed and ruined all because of our juvenile system.This Problem became noticed in 1960 when a 15 year old boy got arrested and had a life changing, ruining, experience all because of a prank phone call. In 1967 the supreme court finally tried to resolve this problem and bring justice to all children, but fixing it wasn't going to be as easy as giving childrens, teens, rights to a lawyer, and no double jeopardy. In the late 90s and early 2000s over 200,000 children were tried as adults, children getting the death penalty and getting life in jail without even chance of parole.There was even a

As adolescents, we have all made mistakes, some big some small but it never crossed our minds that one of these mistakes could change our lives forever. In this day in age, it's ludicrous to hear youth suspects receive harsh sentencing; being forced to go to an adult jail or prison, or in rare cases getting put on death row. “The practice of charging young people as adults gained momentum in America in the 1990s, as youth crime spiked” ("Children in Adult Jails"). Some argue that these pre-teens and/or teens should receive harsh sentencing regardless of their age because they were old enough to know right from wrong. Others believe juveniles should be tried as adults in certain circumstances, depending on the crime and its severity. On the other hand, many people believe youth offenders should receive a higher juvenile sentence as opposed to an adult sentence. This

The American Juvenile Justice System is still fairly new. The first juvenile court was established shortly over a century ago in 1899 in Chicago, Illinois. During its formation, the philosophies concerning juvenile justice shifted from a punitive standpoint to a more rehabilitative approach (McCarter, 2011). This was the court’s first attempt to acknowledge the distinctive cognitive and maturity levels between children and adults. Therefore, juvenile courts were meant to function as civil courts instead of criminal courts, placing minimal focus on the offenses committed by juveniles and instead focusing on their

“The juvenile justice system was first created in the late 1800s to reform United States policies on how to handle youth offenders. Since that time, a number of reforms - aimed at both protecting the "due process of law" rights of youth, and creating an aversion toward jail among the young - have made the juvenile justice system more comparable to the adult system, which is a shift from the United States’ original intent (2008,Lawyer Shop.com).” The

These problems can be reduced, if they are treated as minors. How can they be treated as minors, if they committed actions of an adult? Juveniles just can’t commit their actions, and expect to be reformed, and changed and given a new identity, that is not how the system should work. The system should depend on allowing juveniles to accept the punishment, and be tried as an adult. They may be minors, but they didn’t act like a minor while committing the crime, they acted like an adult. By acting like an adult, their excused shouldn’t be lowered, the consequences should rise, because their actions affected the victim, and the family, but it should be excusable for the parent to remorse and forgive, but it should also be acceptable that if a juvenile commits the crime, they deserve the remorse, they deserve the forgiveness, but lastly after being forgiven they deserve the

“The dead won’t bother you, it’s the living you have to worry about” By John Wayne Gacy. This quote means that it is hard to trust someone you thought you could trust. Kids/Teens are hard to trust sometimes. Sometimes kids/teens are good and trustable, others not so much. A high school teacher states “it is hard to understand how hard it is to accept the reality that a 16 or 17 year old is capable of forming such requisite criminal intent. Juveniles should be convicted as adults for violent crimes because if that adolescent felt like an adult then they should have the same consequences as adults.

McCrea suggest that juveniles should not be tried as adults, however Estudillo asserts that juveniles should be tried as adults. Violent crimes are being committed by minors and nothing is being done about it. The juvenile system was created to handle petty crimes, however the laws of the past cannot handle today's violent crimes. The rehab centers that are supposed to be correcting behaviors of minors are staffed with inexperienced counselors, with inexperienced counselors how are we supposed to trust the juvenile system? Not only are the counselors inexperienced, but the justice system isn’t acknowledging juvenile crimes until it has happened four or five times. One time is enough let alone more than once. The children of Dartmouth parents

Our current juvenile court system began in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The ultimate goal of having a separate court system for juveniles is to rehabilitate young offenders rather than punish them. The court also hopes to deter young offenders from preforming further delinquent behavior. Unlike the adult court system, juveniles do not have the right to a public trial by jury. Instead, they undergo an adjudication hearing where the judge rules whether the juvenile is a delinquent. Since this separation, several studies have been conducted to weigh the benefits and costs; such as effectiveness, efficiency, and cost of resources, of having two court systems. Is the United States juvenile court appropriate or should it be abolished? Abolishing the juvenile court system would mean juveniles and adults would both undergo the same criminal justice system. Rothstein states in his research that juvenile courts are a cost-effective way to handle less serious offenses by children (as cited in Acker, Hendrix, and Hogan, and Kordzek, 2001, p. 200). On the other hand, Robert Dawson (1990) argues that there are not enough legal differences between juvenile and adult courts for there to be a need for a separation, concluding that overlap between both systems is so great that having a juvenile court is unnecessary. Supporting this argument, Barry Feld (1997) calls the two systems “duplicative” (p 69).

Imagine sitting in a courtroom, hoping the the judge will not give a harsh sentence. Unfortunately, that’s the case for many juveniles, some as young as 13! A juvenile is subject to a more severe sentence with the limited sentencing available. It is estimated that 250,000 youth are prosecuted as adults, each year. This number should change, as juveniles are not adults, both mentally and physically. Juveniles need an environment surrounded with guiding adults, education and the resources to help them. A juvenile is not an adult, and should not be tried as one.

The nation’s first juvenile court was established in 1899 as a part of the Juvenile Court Act. It was founded on three principles: juveniles are not ready to be held accountable for their actions, are not yet fully developed, and can rehabilitate easier than adults. In all but three states, anyone charged with committing a criminal act before his or her eighteenth birthday is considered a juvenile offender. Now more than ever, states and countries have begun to question the reliability of the juvenile court. Some believe the juvenile court system should be abolished because of its insufficient gain to the community. Others believe children are not fully capable to understand the degree of their actions and the consequences that come from them and believe that juvenile courts are a necessity in the court system.