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Juvenile offenders in the justice system
Juvenile offenders in the justice system
Juvenile offenders in the justice system
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“On Punishment for Teen Killers”
The article “On Punishment for Teen Killers “ is about how how teenagers should be punished if they commit crime. In the article , she explains how she lost 3 family members to a “Teen Killer”. so she is pushing for the juveniles to be able to be tried as an adult. She wants them to have the same punishment as an adult. She thinks that they are old enough to know what is wrong and what is right. She thinks since she was a teacher, she should have authority on what type of punishment they should have.
My opinion is that i think they should be tried as an adult. At first , i didn’t because they were “too young”. I am 14 years old and i know better than to go out and kill people. Now some teens kill out of anger
Most people don 't look at every aspect of a crime. They don 't think about everyone that was affected, other than the victim. In her article "On Punishment and Teen Killers", Jennifer Jenkins explains how her younger sister was taken from her by a murderer who shot and killed her. In her article she states, "So few who work on the juvenile offender side can truly understand what the victims of their crimes sometimes go through. Some never recover." Jenkins is explaining her personal experience of losing her younger sister to help others understand what the families of the victim have to deal with for the rest of their lives. She brings a point of view that most people have never been in because they 've never experienced what it 's like to have a loved one taken away from you by murder. In her story she also states, "If brain development were the reason, then teens would kill at roughly the same rates all over the world." Many people believe that the supreme court needs to be more lenient on juveniles because their brain is not fully developed as that of an adult, but brain development cannot be used as an excuse because as Jenkins explains, the teens would be killing at the same rate all over the world. Jenkins also brings up a good point about how the US as a whole needs to step up to prevent these crimes from happening. Jenkins states, "We in America have to own to this particular problem, with weapons so easily available to our youth, and the violence-loving culture we raise them. She is trying to bring awareness to society that America is also at fault for these crimes. Furthermore, she also explains why life sentencing is not as cruel as some may feel it is when she says, "… a life sentencing still allows a great deal of good living to be done, even from behind bars, far more than these teen killers gave to our murdered love
If a family member was murdered, a family member was murdered, age should not dictate if the punishment for homicide will be more lenient or not. If anyone not just juveniles has the capabilities to take someone's life and does so knowing the repercussions, they should be convicted as an adult. In the case of Jennifer Bishop Jenkins who lost her sister, the husband and their unborn child, is a strong advocate of juveniles being sentenced to life without parole. In her article “Jennifer Bishop Jenkins On Punishment and Teen Killers” she shows the world the other side of the spectrum, how it is to be the victim of a juvenile in a changing society where people are fighting against life sentences for juveniles. As she states in the article “There are no words adequate to describe what this kind of traumatic loss does to a victims family. So few who work on the juvenile offender side can truly understand what the victims of their crimes sometimes go through. Some never
The article titled “ Juvenile Justice from Both Sides of the Bench”, published by PBS, and written by Janet Tobias and Michael Martin informs readers on numerous judges’ opinions on the juveniles being tried as adults. Judge Thomas Edwards believed that juveniles should not be tried as adults because they are still not mature enough to see the consequences of their actions and have a chance to minimize this behavior through rehabilitation programs. Judge LaDoris Cordell argues that although we shouldn’t give up on juveniles and instead help them be a part of society, however, she believes that some sophisticated teens that create horrible crimes should be tried as adults. Bridgett Jones claims that teens think differently than adults and still
Everyone deserves a second chance; no one is perfect in this world.Certainly teens who may now be adults have come to realization that what they did was morally wrong but they have to be given the possibility to redeem themselves.To demonstrate that the heinous crime they committed does not necessarily make or mark them as harsh and insensitive human-beings.Occasionally the circumstances are what cause juveniles to behave a certain way.Moreover, it 's important to take in consideration that kids are considerably more impulsive and emotionally volatile than adults.Their brains don 't function and aren 't fully developed the way an adults brain is, their actually more reactive to stress.If you have no faults of your own;which is quite unlikely
Fair sentencing of youth state's “Children sentenced to life in prison without parole are often the most vulnerable members of our society” The Gail Garinger article, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences” discusses about children deserving a second opportunity. According to Garinger, children should receive a second chance and help so they could be mentally stable. According to Justice Elena Kagan she discusses that Juveniles without parole affects the way he develops throughout his life time. I agree with the majority decision that Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison and that they should be given a second chance because they deserve to fix their mistakes.
Jenkins Jennifer “On Punishment and Teen Killers.” Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, 2 August 2011. 7 May 2014.
How are those who commit violent crimes different from the rest of us, and how did they get that way? We know that race, poverty and where you live have no statistical bearing on whether a child will become a violent criminal, but sex and age do. Almost all violent criminals are young men. Other predisposing factors include the absence of a father, a family history of violent behavior, a mother's poor health during pregnancy, and the way the child is treated. That most repeat violent criminals have a distinctive lack of empathy. A forensic psychiatrist who has consulted on criminal cases in 49 states, including such notable cases as the Unabomber, Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez brothers, John Hinckley, and the OJ Simpson civil suit, Dr. Dietz also consults on workplace violence prevention for a number of Fortune 500 companies. "The victim doesn't count, only the pleasure of the offender counts, the ability to control and manipulate - to play God, carries a lot of weight with these men," he says. In this sense, John Hinkley, who shot President Reagan after stalking Jodi Foster and President Jimmy Carter, was typical, and Jeffrey Dahmer was not. Not only did Dahmer empathize with his victims enough to attempt anesthetizing them, but in days of interviews with Dr. Dietz, Dahmer was sincerely curious about how he turned to necrophilia, serial murder, and dabbling in cannibalism. Dietz lays part of the blame on the media for widely publicizing criminal innovation through mass marketing and histrionic saturation coverage, which encourages copycat crimes. He also advocates separating segments in films with sexual content from those that encourage violence towards women. You can write to Dr. Park Dietz at 537 Newport Center Drive, Suite 300, Newport Beach, California 92660.
Hundreds of youth under the age of 16 are incarcerated at the Department of Juvenile Justice in New York City. The majority of these young people locked up do not pose a threat to society because they are convicted of non-violent, low-level offenses. If these are low-level offenses, why are these young individuals being sent to juvenile centers? Well, rather than employing traditional disciplinary measures for minor discretions such as detention or counseling, faculty members are instead using drastic methods such as suspension, expulsion and law enforcement to punish the youth. This funneling of students out of school and into the streets and the juvenile correction system is known as the “School-to-Prison-Pipeline.” This cycle deprives the youth who are in poverty, of meaningful opportunities such as an education and a future.
In the article “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences”, by Garinger, she argues that juveniles should not be treated as adults if they commit horrible crimes. Garinger states that juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison without parole. She states that the court is considering life in prison without parole for juveniles who commit capital crimes. Garinger says that juveniles are immature, and still developing, so they can not be held to the same standards as adults. The writer adds that as a juvenile court judge, she has seen how juveniles can change and may become rehabilitated.
Do you think juveniles should be held responsible for their actions? For many years, children have been sentenced to death without trial. Young people are not capable of making rational decisions. Hence, children are restricted from doing many things. For instance, children under the age eighteen are not allowed by law to vote, and work for a certain number of hours. However, when it comes to sentencing children as adults to the death penalty, it is not illegal. If children are viewed differently from adults by law, then why is that not the case when being trialed? Moreover, children are not yet matured to receive such punishments. Likewise, juveniles should not be sentenced to death, because they are still
Is it fair to give juveniles life sentences? On June 25 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, stated that “Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features- among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate the risks and consequences. It prevents taking into account the family and home environment that surrounds him and from which he cannot usually extricate himself no matter how brutal or dysfunctional.” Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison or adult jail until legal age. Due to the facts that many are still young and aren’t over eighteen.
It’s about holding them accountable for their actions by placing them in adult jails to set an example for others, a deterrence. The problem lies in ignoring the general separation the law has in housing juveniles and adult offenders separately. Juveniles should be tried and sentenced separately because their cognitive learning and correctable behavior will be different than that of an adult. According to the Texas Law Review (2004), “Juvenile courts recognize two main kinds of juvenile offenses. Juvenile crime is simply criminal activity committed by a juvenile. Juvenile status offenses are acts that would be illegal for juvenile, such as truancy, running away from home curfew violations, smoking, drinking, and swearing. The trend of trying juveniles as adults applies only to juvenile criminal conduct, not juvenile status offenses” (Brink, 2004, p.1860). This quote helps to differentiate juvenile criminal conduct and the offenses. Criminal conduct would be punished the same if they were an adult, while the status offenses only apply to the illegal acts of the actor, in this case being a minor. This get tough on crime mentality on juveniles to decrease crimes conforms to what the jurisdiction of Missouri Courts have on juveniles by letting juveniles at the young age of fourteen get a life sentence without parole.(ex: Quantel
In the twenty first century there have been many cases of kids committing murder, whether it is the relationships they hold at home or the video games they play, the environment a child is exposed to will affect their developmental process. Children are supposed to be innocent and pure without the desire to kill, yet in the last 50 years official statistics on Listverse.com suggest that over 1,100 kids have been found guilty of murder in England alone. The average age of a child that kills is just about fourteen years old. These kids are usually brought up in an environment that does not teach them right from wrong.
Should juveniles be trial as an adult after committing a heinous crime and sentenced to life? As a teenager, this question if far complicated to answer due that I am a teenager yet in my opinion, I believe that the juvenile should not be sentenced to life. I believe that there 's other way to punish them for their crimes. The last execution was in 2006 in California. On June 2012, the supreme court of justice ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison. On July 2014, in California the death penalty was removed. The 8th amendment banned the use of cruel or punishments. The reason why this rule have been imposed or banned was because many believed that they deserve a second chance. There are many reasons why juveniles commit crimes such as murder.
In today’s generation there are many children and teens that commit crimes to satisfy their self being. Every day we see in the news about the reasons why children or teens commit crimes like murder or homicide. Sentencing juveniles to life in prison is not a right response to prevent homicide and serious murder, because their brains are not fully develop and the bad environment they live in. Teenagers or children need to be remain unformed of preventing crimes in today’s society. With this said, juvenile’s mental brains, backgrounds and growth are the reasons why they are not proficient to maintain themselves in a prison cell.