Criminal Justice System

The American Criminal Justice System, while it stands for freedom and solidarity, can be described as experimental and vague, especially when considering the many divisions that compose the total system. The dual court system that the United States utilizes was proposed in 1787 and fully realized in 1789, yet the sub-focus of this paper, the American juvenile courts, was not established until a century later, in 1899. Since that time, the role and purpose of this court has evolved greatly, molding to reflect both criminality and society. What was established to be a system of rehabilitation and care, a philosophy of parens patriae, has morphed into a system the parallels that of the adult system, focusing more on punitive action and less of reform. (Lab et al., 2013: 85-86, 190-3).

From the time of the founding of the state and federal courts, an increased acceptance and utilization of a necessary defense in criminal cases is that of insanity. Yet, what is striking is that the reception of this defense has not been met by the juvenile system in the same way. As a comparison, forty-six states, as well as the federal enterprise, permit the use of the defense, yet only a mere ten or so have reflected the same for the juvenile court system, and while almost 1.4 million cases shuffle through this system, only a small fraction of those minors are afforded the same right as their adult counterparts (Pollock, 2001: 2041-78; Rogers and Wade, 2013: 496-97). For many, this is inadequate, this thought that the insanity defense is not offered to those within the confines of the juvenile justice system, and it is the purpose of this paper to argue the necessity of such a defense and to provide compelling and concise evidence supporting the not...

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...o contend that, for a number of these children, it is a matter of not being in control. We assume responsibility for their care, acting as if they are property that we are to decide how best to handle, yet are we also to punish them for something that they cannot help; are we to brand an individual as delinquent and group him/her with others who rightfully deserve to carry the title on the sole basis that he/she couldn’t control biology or early environmental situations to which he/she was subjected? If so, then the basic foundation of the system has been poisoned, and the caretaker has evolved into an executioner. The denial of an insanity defense in the cases of those who rightfully deserve it, regardless of age, is a denial of constitutional and human right, and such a disallowance is a slaughtering of the American way of justice that we all so truly stand upon.