Juvenile Offenders

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In order to establish effective and fair juvenile justice policies, there must be a complete understanding of the factors affecting the development of decision-making capabilities over the course of adolescence and into adulthood. Research on developmental immaturities has important implications for establishing mitigating factors that diminish the culpability of juvenile offenders and affect their ability to participate in criminal court. This developmental research supports a categorical distinction between juveniles and adults, bringing into question the validity of statutes requiring juvenile transfer to adult court.
Wisconsin Statute 938.183
According to the Juvenile Justice Code for the state of Wisconsin, adult criminal courts have …show more content…

After crawling from the woods, Leutner was found by bicyclists and rushed to the hospital. She eventually recovered from the attack (Cambridge, 2017). According to The Sun, after Weier and Geyser were arrested, they told the police that they attempted to kill Leutner because they wanted to become followers of a fictional character named Slender Man and prevent him from harming their families. They believed that the only way to become Slender Man’s followers was to murder someone and that they would live in a mansion as his servants following the killing. Weier and Geyser were both charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide (Cambridge, …show more content…

Both girls plead not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. According to the New York Daily News, their defense attorneys sought to move the cases to juvenile court where the maximum sentence would be three years in a juvenile facility and supervision until age 18. They argued that their clients would not get the mental illness treatment they needed in the adult prison system. The state appeals court later ruled that both girls’ cases would remain in adult court because of the nature of the crime (Schladebeck, 2016). The ruling could have been appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The cases are ongoing with Geyser’s trial date set for October 2nd of this year and Meier’s trial date set for September 11th of this year. If they are found guilty, they could face up to 45 years in adult prison (Aradillas,

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