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Should Teens be tried as Adults
Life is precious and we live it only once, however, what we do with it is at our own discretion. Therefore, it is a tragic that many people at younger ages decide to live a life of misdeeds and become what we call juvenile criminals, but, every action in this world has a consequence and to deal with these unlawful adolescent we have the Juvenile Justice Department. Conversely the juvenile justice system is a network of trained agencies that deal with juveniles whose conduct has come in conflict with the law. When young offenders commit a series of crimes, constantly being in trouble with the law, they are waived into Adult court where they will be subject to any punishment available. In some cases,
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During the 1990’s there has been a case of a teen that killed them in Suburban Chicago. After Jennifer’s sister husband died the mother begged for the life of her unborn child as the teen shot her. The teen reported what he had done to his friend , who testified at his trial, about his “thrill kill” that he just wanted to ”see what it would feel like to shoot someone”. In another article called “10 Murders Committed By Minors” by Amanda tells you a crime that a girl commit named Melinda Loveless she was jealous of the friendship forming between 12-year-old Shanda Renee Sharer and her former girlfriend, Amanda Heavrin, so the 16-year-old decided to do something about it. Melinda and her friends went in a car to pick up Sharer from her house to “hang out”. Loveness was in the backseat of car under a blanket with a knife and hold her hostage with the knife to the throat and took her to a garbage dump where they threw Sharer to the ground and started to torture her by taking turns on cutting, stabbing with a dull knife and knocking her unconscious with a metal pipe. They started to laugh on what they to her did and pour gasoline on Sharer while she was still unconscious and burn her alive, so do you still think Juveniles shouldn’t be tried as adults when they commit violent
Thus, the shifting perceptions of the justice system has transformed what it means to be a child and an adult due to their pervasive, and punitive approaches to crime and delinquency. Although adolescents today enjoy many new freedoms and greater time to experiment, those that don’t conform to “normative behaviors” and engage in socially constructed definitions of delinquency, often end up under the firm hands of the juvenile justice system. Despite the creation of this phase in an adolescent’s life, the injustices within the adult justice system have breached into the juvenile system, thus, blurring the lines of what it means to be an adolescent in modern times. Thereby, the adolescent stage is constantly being manipulated to conform and match the social construction of crime and delinquency, and the rise in the practice of trying juveniles as adults within the court system and mandating life sentences is evidence of this
The Juvenile Justice system, since its conception over a century ago, has been one at conflict with itself. Originally conceived as a fatherly entity intervening into the lives of the troubled urban youths, it has since been transformed into a rigid and adversarial arena restrained by the demands of personal liberty and due process. The nature of a juvenile's experience within the juvenile justice system has come almost full circle from being treated as an adult, then as an unaccountable child, now almost as an adult once more.
...ing beckoned in with the 21st century. While U.S.’s JLWOP laws are inconsistent with many human rights treatises and with international law, it is more important for our policies to be based on a thorough understanding of the issue- the most essential being a separation of the processes for juvenile and adult criminal offenders. With an emphasis on rehabilitation for juvenile offenders, and the goal of encouraging maturity and personal development after wayward actions, the futures of many teens in the criminal justice system can become much more hopeful.
The future of the juvenile justice system is promising. The methods and approaches utilized should continue to improve in the next twenty years in the same way that they have improved over the past twenty years. Addressing the main factors that contribute to juvenile offending will help to solve the problem of delinquency in the United States. Juveniles in the present system do have the ability to straighten out their lives. This might be less challenging for them than it has been in the past, but hopefully the future will make the road to reform easier for them.
The focus of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate juvenile offenders, rather than to imprison and punish like the systems adult counterpart. According to Caldwell (1961) the juvenile justice system is based on the principle that youth are developmentally and fundamentally different from adults. This has lead to the development of a separate justice system for juveniles that was initially designed to assist troubled juveniles providing them with protection, treatment, and guidance. When performing as it is designed and up to the initial intentions, the juvenile court balances rehabilitation (treatment) of the offender with suitable sanctions when necessary such as incarceration. According to Mack (1909) the focus of the juvenile justice system has shifted from “how can we help the child”, “why did the child commit the crime” to “was the crime committed”. According to Griffin (2008) in some cases juveniles may be required to be “transferred” to adult court. The prerequisites for transfer to adult court are the duty to protect the public from violent youths, serious crime, and the lack of rehabilitation chance from the juvenile court. According to Flesch (2004) many jurisdictions handle the issue of serious juvenile crime by charging juveniles as adults. Charging a juvenile as an adult is done by a method which is called waiver to adult court. This waiver allows adult criminal court to have the power to exercise jurisdiction over juveniles and handle the juvenile’s case as an adult’s case would be tried. According to Flesch (2004) a juvenile is both tried and if convicted of the crime the juvenile will be sentenced as an adult when his or her case is waived from the juvenile court. Waiver to adult court initially was viewe...
There are more kids committing murders than you think. There a lot of of teenage killers, like as young as eleven years. Some think that if they should be convicted as adult. There are people out there that think that the child murders should be given a second chance and be tried as juveniles. Children that are committing murder should be tried as adults. A phrase that is used in this case of juveniles committing heinous crimes is "Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time."
Imagine you were caught committing homicide because you were given the orders to do so by Tracy Self from the Sipping Tea Gang. In class, we have been reading and watching videos about juveniles who were charged and not charge as adults. Especially juveniles who are under the age of 18 who have committed serious crimes. We have read two articles in the class titled should young murder suspect be tried as adults and young killers who stay in juvenile court take vastly different paths. In class we also watched three videos that also talked about juveniles who were and were not charged as adults in murder trials called young killers who stay in juvenile court take vastly different paths”, “should juveniles be incarcerated with adults”, and
When it comes to individuals committing serious or harsh crimes, a sentence should match the crime that was committed. However, say this individual is under the age of 18. Should that make a difference in the amount of time they should serve, or should they serve any time at all? Based on age, states or locations, crimes committed and many other factors, we will discuss whether or not juveniles should be tried as adults. There are many arguments back and forth on whether or not a juvenile should be tried as an adult for their crimes. The two main reasons that are prosed for juveniles being tried as adults are that 1) the sentence should be proportional to their crime no matter the age and 2) the harsher or severe punishment will help lower juvenile crime rates. However, according to research juvenile crime rates have increased and the deterrent effects are minimal or almost non-existent. According to research and studies, a child’s brain does not fully develop until the age of 25. With this in mind, it brings up
However, since this is governed by individual states, there is no consistency to which juveniles get transferred and for what crime which may explain why certain cities and areas are having more difficulty (Collier). If these young people are committing adult crimes using adult methods such as guns and other means of violence, they should expect to be tried as adults (Collier). It is only logical to say that the juvenile has engaged in adult behavior and has declared him or herself an adult in crime. The states and/or federal government should see that as a signal that the person should be treated as an adult in the eyes of the court. To this suggestion, many people would make the argument that teens are not in full control of their actions
Jasmine Richardson, a 13 year old girl, encouraged by her boyfriend murdered her whole family. She killed her 8 year old brother and her boyfriend killed both of her parents, all because her family wouldn't let her be with her boyfriend, sad right? She only got 10 years of prison and her boyfriend got a life sentence. Once she got let out, there was nothing on her record and she was just freed. Jasmine’s story is just like many others who have committed crimes. People different ages, doing the same crime aren't getting the same consequences. Juveniles should be treated as adults because it decreases crime rates and justifies their actions.
The juvenile justice system in America has been suffered several stages and changes in the process of administration of justice to juvenile offender, today as result of this changes exist an application of the law to the juvenile offender with individual justice and an adequate rehabilitation that is fundamental to the system (DC: National Juvenile Red de justice, 2012)
Juveniles deserve to be tried the same as adults when they commit certain crimes. The justice systems of America are becoming completely unjust and easy to break through. Juvenile courts haven’t always been known to the everyday person.
The only difference between two offenders who commit a crime is the age at which they do so. Adolescents between the ages of 14 and 16 must be held accountable for their actions, especially involving serious crimes (EAPL). At these ages the average person is mentally mature enough to comprehend the consequences that come with committing a crime. If juvenile offenders are capable of planning out and succeeding in the murder or rape of an individual, then they absolutely must be tried as an adult. “Taking a life is murder, regardless of the age of the offender and the penalties to be imposed must not discriminate” (Green Garage). Although adolescents lack decision making, it does not mean that they lack the ability to understand that these violent crimes are unacceptable. Juvenile offenders should not be given any special considerations because of their age
The youth of our country are capable of many accomplishments. These range from outstanding community service to committing indictable offences. Today young people are fortunate enough to have similar privileges as adults such as driving/ operating countless types of vehicles, being left to take responsibility for children (babysitting) and themselves. With all of these privileges and responsibilities that youth gladly undertake, they should be required to accept appropriate consequences for their actions. Young persons who commit murder should be tried as adults.
Juvenile delinquency is one of the major social issues in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is when “a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Merriam-webster.com). Although we have one justice system in America, the juvenile system differs from the adult juvenile system. Most juvenile delinquents range from as low as the age of seven to the age of seventeen. Once the delinquent or anyone turns the age of eighteen, they are considered an adult. Therefore, they are tried as an adult, in the justice system. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. In addition, there are a variety of effects that juvenile justice systems can either bad effects or good effects. Finally there are many different solutions that can reduce juvenile delinquency. As a result, juvenile delinquency is a major issue and the likeliness of it can be reduced. In order to reduce juvenile delinquency there has to be an understanding of the causes and the effects.