Juvenile Justice System

950 Words2 Pages

We live in a nation that is based upon the notion of “the land of the free”, and “justice for all”, however, this is far from true. These basic principles that our nation was founded upon have proven themselves to be invalid over the course of history and even in today's society. In our nation, the fight for justice and equality is an ongoing battle, which is why we designed the criminal justice system: as a means to fight this inequality. This system was put forth in order to ensure the justice, order, and safety of our citizens. However, this system, that was designed to serve and protect us was re-established in the year of 1899 during the progressive era. This system became known as juvenile justice and soon altered the definition of justice. …show more content…

This system was created due to the belief that was held by many reformers that treating children as adults violates the 8th amendment to the United States Constitution of “cruel and unusual punishment”. However, this system was only created as a means to alter the view of these juveniles. Treating these juveniles as adults does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, as we are only serving fair justice for the crimes they are committing. Cruel and unusual punishment is defined as “a particular punishment that is viewed as inhumane” (BLANK). Some examples of cruel and unusual punishment include torture, unreasonable sentencing, and shock therapy. Treating such juveniles as adults does not fall within this definition. If treating every criminal as equal is “cruel and unusual” then we should throw away the notion of “equality” that is invested in our society. How can one expect our society to treat others equality if the criminal justice system can't be the …show more content…

She argues that this system allows juveniles to be viewed differently from society thus giving them more leeway. The criminal justice system was designed to serve justice to the victims, not to appeal to the emotions of others. A criminal is a criminal and should not be viewed any differently based on race, sex, religion, nor age. However, society is being impacted by these factors and are not creating fairness as we are not able to put aside these

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