Three Juvenile Cases

On November 15, 2015, I, Cpl. Lessane, along with Deputy Jordan, with the Hampton County Sheriff's Office, responded to 2427 Bamberg Highway, in the county of Hampton, regarding disturbance with neighbors. Upon arrival, Deputies made contact with the complainant, Brandy Davis, who stated her neighbor, Wanda Carroll, kids were being disrespectful. Deputies gathered the pertinent information needed to complete this report.

The cases of Lionel Tate, and brothers Derek and Alex King bring into focus the problems that society has in addressing how to handle criminal cases involving deadly violence by under-age juveniles. Lionel Tate, a 12 year old in Florida was convicted of killing a 6-year-old playmate while Alex and Derek King, 12 and 13 years old respectively, were convicted of killing their father. Interestingly, Lionel Tate, who happens to be black, was sentenced to life in prison while the King boys, who are white, both received minimal terms.

Kenzie Houk had everything going for her. She was twenty-six, engaged to the love of her life, and was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. In the late winter of 2009, her four-year-old daughter waddled in her bedroom, hoping to surprise her mommy with a good morning smile. Instead, she found her mother with a bullet through her head. Eleven-year-old Jordan Brown, the soon-to-be stepson of Kenzie Houk, was arrested and charged with homicide, pulling the trigger before he went to school. There were two counts of homicide, one for Kenzie Houk and the other for her baby. Brown was tried in juvenile court and sentenced to a residential treatment facility until the age of twenty-one. To Kenzie Houk’s family, Brown’s sentence would never live up to that her four-year-old and seven-year old daughters would have to serve. “The day Kenzie was murdered, the whole family was served with a life sentence,” said Debbie Houk, the victim’s mother. “[Her daughters] are serving life right now. They are never going to see their mom” (Chen). Serious juvenile crimes, similar to this, cannot be properly justified in the juvenile justice system. Juveniles should be tried in the adult criminal court system for serious crimes because of the lack of severity in the juvenile court system, increased youth crime and recidivism rates, and the mental maturity of juvenile offenders.

Yes, juveniles deserve life sentences in jail if they decide to commit a violent crime. This is because there is no effective deterrent to force them to think twice. Over the course of time, this has resulted in even more juveniles being arrested for these activities. Evidence of this can be seen with figures provided by the Center for Disease Control. ("Youth Violence," 2010)

Lionel Tate is the youngest American to get sentenced to prison for life without the possibility of parole. He was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001, he was only 13 at the time of the incident. He had supposedly been play wrestling with Tiffany Eunick, a six year old girl, and had her in a chokehold and hit her head on a table. Although it was true, they were wrestling there were other injuries to Eunick such as her liver was lacerated, fractured skull, fractured ribs and a swollen brain. They said the injuries were similar to ones of falling off a three story building. Broward County Circuit Court said “The acts of Lionel Tate were not the playful acts of a child[...] The acts of Lionel Tate were cold, callous and indescribably cruel. In 2004 the state appealed court overturned his conviction

The topic of juveniles being sentenced to life in prison continues to be a debate among legislators and citizens of the United States. When the Supreme Court ruled that kids could no longer be sentenced to life in prison regardless of their crime, some rejoiced and others firmly believed that this ruling was simply unreasonable. Although the Supreme Court’s ruling is somewhat illogical, the flawed justice system allows for certain juveniles to serve irrational sentences for minor crimes, and others to slip through the cracks and receive little to no punishment simply because of their age.

Over the last two decades, States have increasingly been allowing juvenile prosecution in the adult courts. The trend is becoming a common thing even with young children. Common mechanisms of transfer includes statutory exclusion, which mandates prosecution of juvenile in the adult court and direct file which orders the prosecution to transfer juvenile cases to the criminal court (Bishop, 2010). The recent escalation of juvenile criminal activities has led to the increasing enactment of legislation to allow juveniles to be prosecuted in the criminal courts.

As juvenile crime increases over the years due to gang activity, bullying, etc. many offenders are given a life sentence without parole. There isn 't a clear boundary that marks at what age should they be treated as adults because the severity of their action always effects that. Should a 6-year-old be convicted with life in prison or should they let them go? Is a 16-year-old enough to be charged with murder like an adult would be? These are some things that cross people 's mind when it comes to this subject. When the real simple question. Is it correct to give a juvenile offender life in prison?

Murderers, rapists, and other criminals are being released from jail every day after serving only extremely short sentences. These criminals are given special treatment because they are delinquents. Some are given new identities and are allowed to live their lives in peaceful bliss, all while the victims and their families are left to suffer forever. With courts and juvenile rights advocates believing that these delinquents deserve second chances, they are allowing criminals to walk the streets, live as our neighbors, and in many instances, commit additional crimes. While some disagree that juvenile offenders should be tried as adults, there should not be any special privileges for the atrocious crimes they commit, because they may think they

You present a pretty good thought regarding how a juvenile enters a program such as JDAI. Did government enforce a violation of law, or did a parent push the action? My jurisdiction is mostly opposite from what you experience. Not all, but certainly the majority of juvenile cases I deal with have very little cooperation from parents or legal guardians. Personally, I think most of these folks have simply checked out and are not providing the values and respect that kids should be receiving. Many parents I deal with are too concerned with personal issues they are dealing with such as drug addiction and financial issues; the last thing they want to expend any energy on is dealing with their child’s delinquency. I have wondered what

Each year in Canada, over 400,000 adult criminal cases are brought in front of a judge. That number may seem incredibly high, but considering the amount of charges brought against individuals daily, it really is not all that high. I had the opportunity to see a number of different adult criminal court proceedings, from bail hearings to guilty pleas, but the one that I’m going to analyze today is the sentencing hearing of a young man who was charged with uttering threats, breach of undertaking and two counts of breach of probation.

According to the new system the Juvenile Justice Board has to conduct a preliminary investigation to decide whether the child had the maturity and could understand the consequences of the act. If the board feels the child had the physical and mental capacity to do the offence, he is sent to the children’s court to be treated as an adult. The court can try the child under section 18, which is regarding what to be done when the child is innocent. So the drafting is done in such a manner that the child can treated as an adult because the innocence can be found out only once he/she is under trial. At the age of 21, it is decided whether the person should be let out or not. The new system gives out the idea that there are some humane considerations but it has severe flaws.

According to the article “Teen Violence Statistics” on average 4,828 young people, ages 10-24, were victims of homicide an average of 13 each day. Statistics show 784 juveniles were arrested for murder. So, should those victims be left without a proper punishment? On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison due to the fact it violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and usual punishment, however what they did was cruel and unusual. I believe that a mandatory sentence of life without parole for juveniles who committed first or second degree murder is a justifiable sentence and should not be abolished. Their acts should be punished the same way an adult would be. However these young criminals who committed first and second degree murder must be given the chance to persuade a judge to permit his or her release into society. If these so what called “children” want to commit crimes any adult would, they must face the consequences. The brain development is an overrated excuse for these criminals.

The American people have been executing children in the pursuit of justice for more than three and one half centuries, beginning with the earliest days of Plymouth Colony. The most recent executions of juvenile offenders occurred in April and May of 1998. This centuries-old system of death for children’s crimes has always had major flaws, and the post-1972 modern era is little better. However, it was not until the last decade that American courts and scholars stumbled across this odd subtopic within the death penalty system. Now after fifteen years of debating, legislating, and deciding cases about the death penalty for offenders who commit crimes while under age

On May 31st, 2014 a twelve-year-old girl named Payton Leutner was stabbed 19 times by two of her twelve-year-old friends that were trying to please a fictional character called Slender Man. Leutner’s friends lured her into a Waukesha park, stabbed her and left her for dead. If the two twelve-year-old girls were convicted in juvenile court, they would stay in jail until they are 18 then, when released back into their communities, they would have intense supervision and services. However, if they got convicted as adults they would face up to 65 years in prison with a combination of prison and extended supervision under the Department of Corrections.