Summary Of Developmental Perspective Theory

Garinger was a former juvenile court judge, so Garinger is a very credible source when it comes to the topic of juvenile criminals. To support Garinger’s credible usage of ethos, he demonstrates that in 2005, Supreme Court acknowledged that even though juveniles have committed terrible crimes such as homicide “juvenile offenders cannot with reliability be classified among the worst offenders” (6). This technique of providing the opinions of Supreme Court helps build Garinger’s credibility, and even more so that he is was a former juvenile court judges, so he most likely has a personal relationships with the Supreme Court. Readers feel sympathy to any juvenile who have been charged as adults and been sentenced to life without parole.

* P1 Explain the principal psychological perspectives applied to the understanding of the development of individuals

The environment a child is surrounded in is what develops a child’s perception into the mind of a criminal. The mind of a child is made purely of innocence until one is exposed to destructive developmental patterns. Children that have grown into the shoes of a criminal had been raised into a home with no control and where the environment creates vulnerability. Those who grow up into childhood with an unorganized lifestyle only want to possess the control and power that criminals contain. Children raised in this unstable environment develop a slow pace of skills adolescents learn earlier on (Shi and Nicol par.2). Juvenile sex offenders do not fully develop basic skills which makes it easier to be negatively pressured by society (par.

“In the late 1980s, Robert Sampson and John Laub stumbled across the files from a decades-old research project conducted by Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck of the Harvard Law School. This study that followed young boys from childhood into early adulthood and led them to question previous criminological research practice and develop their age-graded theory. It has been said that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Therefore, it is no surprise that, when criminologists study adult offenders, they discover almost all of them committed crimes as an adolescent. However, it is not logical to assume that everyone who engages in crime as an adolescent will commit crimes as an adult. Moreover, if one continues this faulty line of reasoning

“I think it's important for us as a society to remember that the youth within juvenile justice systems are, most of the time, youths who simply haven't had the right mentors and supporters around them because of circumstances beyond their control,” (qtd. in Brainy Quotes) are wise words from Q'orianka Kilcher, a human rights activist. Many Americans feel adolescents should be held accountable for their behavior; however, trying them as if they are adults is not always the optimum course of action. Because the teenage brain matures from back to front, the prefrontal cortex is not established until mid-twenties. Ordinarily adolescents can be rehabilitated in order to avert future offending; yet when tried as an adult, all hope for rehabilitation is lost. A one time mistake will follow an adolescent around for the rest of his/her life, dramatically decreasing the opportunities for success. Trying adolescents as adults is an injustice due to their lack of rationality and potential for rehabilitation.

According to T. Williams at https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/us/us-prison-population.html?_r=0, (2016). “The number of inmates held in state and federal prisons, fell to its lowest level since 2005 dropping by 2.7 percent.” However, while adult crimes seem to be decreasing. The opposite can be said about juvenile related crimes which seem to be increasing. In this paper, I will be providing my reasons as to why I believe juvenile related crimes are going up, as well as talk about two programs that are working to keep at risk youth out of the criminal justice system.

In 2005, the supreme court banned the death penalty for youth offenders, because of them being undeveloped, immature, and irresponsible. But they haven’t used that same logic when they send juveniles to violent adult prisons. “In my observation, the incarceration of young prisoners in adult prisons has an extremely destructive effect. Young prisoners are more susceptible to negative influences than adults” (Scott). When a young prisoner is in this type of environment, they will try to do anything they can to fit in.

People feel that the American justice system constructs upon holding perpetrators accountable for their actions. Most states in America believe by setting harsh sentences that this will act as a deterrent to other juveniles who are considering committing crimes. There may be some veracity to trying juveniles as adults. The juvenile arrest rate reported by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention shows that, “The juvenile Violent Crime Index arrest rate increased in the mid-2000s, and then declined through 2012 to its lowest level since at least 1980. The rate in 2012 was 38% below its 1980 level and 63% below the peak year of 1994. In 2012, there were 182 arrests for Violent Crime Index offenses for every 100,000 youth between 10 and 17 years of age. If each of these arrests involved a different juvenile, which is unlikely, then no more than 1 in every 544 person’s ages 10-17 was arrested for a Violent Crime Index offense in 2012, or less than one-fifth of 1% of all juveniles ages 10 to 17 living in the states.” This rating shows that by trying juveniles as adults has coincided considerably with the lowering rate of juvenile

It is often said that Americas justice system is out of control by becoming too harsh on the offenders. This leads to an increasing number of our incarceration rate. More and more young adults are being sent to prison when they may not even be fully developed yet when it comes to understanding their actions. This system has led to young teens being sent to adult prisons where they are abused as well as people committing small crimes that are tried unfairly and sentenced to a lifetime of prison. the current justice system as a matter a fact, increases incarceration rates by providing ridiculous accusations of crimes and intense terms of punishment.

Many of the youths that are incarcerated are in between 16 to 22 years of age, and many of these are male rather than female. Over forty-four percent of youths arrested are under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or sometimes the combination of both. Not only that but most of the accused commit the crime with someone, not by themselves. The young adults are more inclined to commit any type of crime under the influence or with some of their 'friends' encouragement. These are most commonly seen in teens who want and need to belong. The teenage years are a period of life that is shapeable by many stressors, such as physical changes, school, relationships with friends and parents, and also romantic relationships. Many succumb to the need to belong that they turn to people that are not the right motivator the adolescent needs.

The courts experience many challenges that include determining whether a child who commits a heinous crime should be sentenced in a manner that reflects their actions or based on their ability for rehabilitation. Children have the capacity to commit terrible acts of violence, and when they do the question posed is if they should be punished based on their actions or based on their ability to rehabilitate. The judges also look to see what’s in the best interest of the child (Chambliss, 2005), especially regarding their age. The age of the juvenile in question places tremendous weight on the judge as they want what is

There have been thousands of juvenile programs which have been developed and undergone comprehensive recidivism analysis by outside auditors over the past thirty years. Despite the good intentions of the late Judge Lindsey and other advocates, the collapse of the rehabilitative model can be attributed to: (1) the sacrifice of public safety, (2) not promoting the welfare of youths in the system, and (3) classifying youths as children in the regulation of crime (Scott & Steinberg, 2008 p. 83). Judge Lindsey and other progressives during much of the twentieth century believed in being parental role models, handling youthful offenders as neglected children whose welfare was of primary concern when the state intervened in response to their criminal conduct. The mantra of progressives and professionals for years has been that there are no wicked children, just inadequate parents or guardians; however, now there are psychiatrists who acknowledge that previous thinking was flawed and that some children, through no fault of the parents or their environment, are simply bad seeds (Appleyard, 2010). This thread will offer a brief synopsis of changes to the law in regards to juveniles due to the changes in theory and reality.

Teenagers placed in prison with adults generally suffer horrific outcomes. Frequently raped and beaten, they become increasingly alienated from general society, and if they learn anything in prison, it is only how to become a more effective criminal. "Research has found that juveniles processed in adult courts are more likely to relapse into crime than to turn away from it. And studies also demonstrate that bringing misbehaving young people together is likely to encourage violence and other forms of misbehavior” (McCord and Widom, 2001). Another opposition of children being charged and tried as adults is that their criminal record won't ever go away and that one mistake made as a child will follow them their entire life (McCord and Widom, 2001). It will be hard for them to obtain employment and do other things in life to be productive members of

Critically discuss the assertion that “young people are propelled into crime through circumstances beyond their control” (Muncie, 2005, p.116).

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