The Issue Of Juvenile Crime Essay

In today's society juveniles are being tried in adult courts, given the death penalty, and sent to prison. Should fourteen-year olds accused of murder or rape automatically be tried as adults? Should six-teen year olds and seven-teen year olds tried in adult courts be forced to serve time in adult prisons, where they are more likely to be sexually assaulted and to become repeat offenders. How much discretion should a judge have in deciding the fate of a juvenile accused of a crime - serious, violent, or otherwise? The juvenile crime rate that was so alarming a few years ago has begun to fall - juvenile felony arrest rates in California have declined by more than forty percent in the last twenty years. While

Minorities are also affected by the statistics of the Uniform Crime Report. When looking at minority arrests, the composition of the community really affects the numbers used. Overall in the United States the racial compositions for juveniles according to Puzzanchera (2009) showed that 78% of juveniles were white, 16% were black, 5% Asian, and only 1% Native American. These figures can be severely misleading in that Hispanic juveniles are classified as white for these studies. However, using these numbers and the reporting by agencies, violent crimes committed in 2008 were done by 47% white youth, 52% black youth and a mere 1% were committed by Asian youth, leaving the last 1% to have been committed by native American youth. As a result, black youth are more likely to commit violent crimes and be entered into the juvenile justice system.

Juvenile justice can be a difficult area for law enforcement. This is said because unlike adult offenders in the criminal justice system, the juvenile justice is about reform rather than incarceration. The thought process behind juvenile justice is to help these children to become better adults, not only for their community, but also for their workforce as well. There are some rules when handling delinquents. A great example would be an adult who has a public intoxication and has to spend a night in jail. Although, if a juvenile is caught doing the same thing he is to be taken home to his parents, or legal guardian. Also, the way a trial operates is also different. During a trial in adult court, it becomes a formal matter and can be subjected to a trial by jury. Whereas the trial in juvenile court is informal, and under no circumstances, can the defendant be tried in front of a jury. Lastly, the title of the judge is different in a juvenile case and is called a referee.

Historically, it was established that minors were too young to be held responsible for criminal behavior and the juvenile law system was set up to handle these offenders, with a focus on rehabilitation, not punishment. However, although still under the legal age of majority, it is becoming more and more common for a minor who commits a serious crime

Over the course of ten years or more, several youth offenders have been arrested and placed in the penitentiary with adult inmates. With that in mind, this is a huge problem within our criminal justice system today. Many states have implemented a plan to protect our juveniles who are maturing into adulthood through their juvenile justice systems, but their strategies have not been effective at all. However, juveniles who commits crimes are very different from adults who have committed crimes. For instance, juveniles should be placed in a different category when they violate a law(s) within our criminal justice system, not because they should be less responsible for their wrongful doing, but because they have a greater capacity for change compared to the adults who have committed crimes. In addition, juvenile’s brains are still in the development stages and they need adult’s protection and guidance to safeguard the rights to prevent injustice.

From an online article published by KARE11 News station, in October in 2016, a 17-year-old boy decided to commit murder to a man and a harmless 7-month-old baby without even thinking.

To hold adolescents to the same level of responsibility as adults in the legal system is an appalling notion, as an adolescent’s thought processes are not fully formative. There are already more effective systems in place that are specifically geared towards adolescents, and being imprisoned with adults would also be detrimental to the impressionable mind of a youth. While it is important for anyone who commits a crime to be held accountable, the level to which the person may take responsibility will vary heavily, depending on age. Adolescents are not legally considered adults for a plethora of reasons, one of which being their rudimentary mental capacities. The treatment of a juvenile crime must differ from that of an adult crime, because

Juveniles come in contact with the law and law enforcement everyday, but it is important to understand how to deal with these individuals. Oftentimes juveniles can be a victim of a crime, or even a suspect in a crime, and it is necessary to learn how to effectively communicate with these individuals. Children and juveniles have a different language set, understanding of law, mindset, and even a different way of coping compared to their adult counterparts. Officers dealing with these younger persons need to understand the capacity of these children, and how to properly communicate with them. These children involved in crimes often will testify in court, be interviewed, and on occasion be interrogated for crimes. Law officers today need to be aware of these differences with juveniles and have the skills necessary to communicate with these individuals in the interrogation and interviewing settings.

An analysis of the reasons that instigate juveniles to engage in criminal behavior could potentially assist in improving the current Criminal Justice practices. The purpose of this research is to explore the principle of causality, which is basically the concept pertaining to cause and effect among potential young offenders. It is relevant to have a better understanding about the specific reasons causing young people to decide to break the law. An effective strategy would be to focus on prevention for rehabilitative purposes, which could be more beneficial than focusing on retribution. The United States is the country with the highest prison population figures in the world (Tsai & Scommegna, 2016). The main focus of this research is to examine juvenile delinquency in depth as finding a way to decrease the juvenile delinquency rates will impact the family unit as well as society as a whole.

Presently, juvenile justice is widely acknowledged as being in a state of flux in the United States. The early 1990s saw the most substantial rise in violent crime committed by juveniles ever experienced in this country. On the heels of decades of skepticism about the effectiveness of parens patriae (the state as parent), this rise was the "proof" for many "experts" who believe that the juvenile justice system should be abolished. These skeptics reason that one criminal court could still have some latitude when sentencing younger offenders, but that kids are now committing adult crimes, so it is time to treat them as adults.

The term juvenile is derived from a Latin word Juvenis meaning Young (who has not attained the age of 18 years). A Children have been recognized supremely assets of the Nation. The government of India through its National Policy for Children stated that their nurture and solicitude are our responsibility. Equal opportunities for development to all children during the period of growth should be our aim, for this would serve our larger purpose of reducing inequality and ensuring social justice. Children ought to have been the subject of prime focus of development planning, research, and welfare in India but unfortunately, it has not been so. Despite the Constitutional vision of a healthy and happy child protected against abuse and exploitation, and a National Policy for Children, the majority of children in India continue to live without a cared, protected and meaningful childhood. The juvenile justice system as conceived by legislation aims at providing care, protection, treatment, development, and rehabilitation of delinquent and neglected juvenile.

In today’s society, many crimes are being committed. Many are committed by adults; however, many are also committed by juveniles. A controversial issue is whether juvenile offenders should be tried as adults. Juvenile delinquency is the act of committing illegal behaviors by minors. Juvenile crime is one of the nation’s main issue that many politicians debate about. On April 10, 2017, the governor of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo, signed the “Raise the Age” into law. The new law states that offenders ages 16 and 17 will automatically be sent to family court instead of adult court meaning they will be punished leniently and be secured in juvenile detention centers rather than in prison. This lead to the controversy of this issue of whether juvenile offenders should be treated the same as adults. However, juvenile delinquents should be treated the same as adults in criminal cases because crime is a crime, brings justice to the victims and the victim’s family, and if they are treated differently, juveniles can do whatever they want.

My uncle sells me one pound of “sour diesel” for five thousand dollars once a week. He gets several pounds a month from California. I am supposed to make at least five thousand six hundred off of each pound, so that I can buy some more next week. He gives me a good deal on the Xanax bars at two dollars a pill that I will sell for five to ten dollars a pill. That is how the conversation went between a seventeen-year-old Conservative Vice Lord and me on a traffic stop about two weeks ago. He says “my whole family sells drugs, this is how we make our money.” We discussed a lot of different things as I transported him to the Juvenile Detention Center at three o’clock in the morning. He was being transported because he was driving a vehicle that had been reported stolen a month ago. Typically with the one-ounce marijuana, fifty Xanax pills, and four hundred dollars cash, he would have been issued a juvenile summons. However, since he had one prior gun charge, he met the criteria to be transported. It is scenarios like this which add validity to the fact that criminal behaviors are learned through social interactions. Delinquency and Deviant behaviors are acquired when there are close interactions with others. They grasp the techniques and definitions which are needed to support their deviance through a social process (Schmalleger, 2012). This young man was not born with the abilities to sell drugs. It is through his social and personal interactions with his family and social

Juvenile crimes are an ongoing serious epidemic all over the world that’s been increasing at a steady pace. Many juveniles have committed crimes, that leads us to a variety of different perspectives on this strong controversial topic. Which brings up the question should individuals under the age of 16 charged with felonies be tried as adults. In society today, they are indecisive over this subject. They shouldn’t be charged because of different factors that affects the minor’s environment such as age and maturity levels, psychological issues, and lifetime effects.

Crime at any age and in any form is a social problem and should be stopped or curbed at any cost. Crime at a juvenile age is on one hand a crime against property and life, and on the other a crime against humanity. It is a much graver social danger that holds the seed of an evident social disaster implanted into it. Criminologists hold different views regarding the root of juvenile crime and that often leads into quite the argument. Irrespective of those theoretical head on collisions, the presence of socio economic factors behind each juvenile crime committed is almost accepted by all. No one is a born criminal and it is evident that the surrounding socio economic environment acts as an important element and a catalyst in turning a young