Juvenile Crime

(Based on data from the NCJRS organization available online at ncjrs.org). In 1999, youth under the age of 15 accounted for 67 percent of all juvenile arrests for arson. In 1999, 1/4th of all people arrested for robbery were under 18. Of all violent crimes committed by juveniles under the age of 18, the following rates apply; forcible rape, 17 percent; aggravated assault, 14 percent; and murder, 9 percent. In 1999, the juvenile male arrest rate for all violent crimes was 4.5 times more than the crime rate for females.

The juvenile delinquency term has come to imply disgrace in today's society. An underage offender can be labeled a delinquent for breaking any number of laws, ranging from robbery to running away from home. To help better understand the rights that a juvenile is entitled to, the following situations faced by the criminal justice system when dealing with juvenile detainees will be examined. The two main areas of discussion include; juvenile’s rights at time of arrest and additional protections afforded to the juvenile. These areas will be briefly analyzed to give adequate explanation of the issue and whether additional protections serve the purposes of criminal and social justice.

The forgotten few: the juvenile offender population. Seldom thought about, but yet are the foundation and underpinning of the origin of the crime in the United States. This is an inquiry as to what has been done to the adolescents and children with regards to sanctions that have not yet been really brought to light. The problematic history of juvenile offenders is one of the United States dirty little secret. The literature shows the nations children who deviate from the norm are presumed to be deviant and treated like its adult criminal population.

What Kramer is saying is that a teenager that is a criminal would not be tried or treated as an adult because of the teenagers young age. Rita states that the present juvenile court system actually encourages the young delinquent to continue criminal behavior by showing them that they can get away with a crime. The juvenile court system is very similar to the New York Family Court system which was made to protect children who are usually under the age of 18 who kept on running into trouble with law. It was designed to function as helping parents of juveniles. By protecting those kids who were younger from the age of 18 juveniles always used the system as a game and said, “ I ain’t sixteen yet,” they cant do anything to me.

The juvenile justice system is a foundation in society that is granted certain powers and responsibilities. It faces several different tasks, among the most important is maintaining order and preserving constitutional rights. When a juvenile is arrested and charged with committing a crime there are many different factors that will come in to play during the course of his arrest, trial, conviction, sentencing, and rehabilitation process. This paper examines the Juvenile Justice System’s court process in the State of New Jersey and the State of California. The term juvenile delinquent was established so that young lawbreakers could avoid being classified in legal records as criminals.

Prior to the establishment of the modern juvenile justice system, children could be made to stand trial in criminal court for crimes committed, and if found culpable, they could be sentenced as an adult would be sentenced for similar crimes, with sentences resulting in prison time or even death. The juvenile justice system was developed in a large part due to the developing belief that youth offenders were incapable of criminal intent and should not be held to the same criminal standard adult offenders are. Therefore, it was considered appropriate to exempt juvenile offenders that were considered incapable of intent to commit a criminal act from prosecution and punishment. “Parens patriae” is the responsibility of the state to institute control over children when the child has posed a problem for the community due to criminal behavior, or when the natural parents of the children were either unable or not willing to meet their parental responsibilities. The juvenile justice reform movement began in this country according to this “parens patrie” line of thinking about the states role in the development of a child.

When a minor commits a crime, a state will classify them as a juvenile delinquent. James Alan Fox indicates that for children who are not supervised after school, statistics show that crime by and against juveniles peaks at 3 p.m. and again at 6 p.m. Juveniles are responsible for one in five violent crimes. Guns are used in eight out of ten homicides committed by juveniles. Nearly 40 percent of juvenile crime occurs after school, whereas for adults the crime rate is highest before and after midnight.

Nevertheless, let’s not forget how an unfit, abusive, and peer pressure can influences them to commit a crime without thinking. Looking ahead let’s offer these juvenile offenders a chance by assisting them with the help and resources they need; rather than to sentence them to a life in prison. Works Cited Cashmore, Judy. "The link between child maltreatment and adolescent offending." Family Matters.

The other issue deals with the amount of delinquent minorities that get arrested after one offense compared to the white delinquents who receive second chances. The use of solitary confinement for juveniles is not an effective way to punish their bad behavior while in a detention center. The videos proved that solitary adds additional issues to already existing issues. One of the biggest issues with the juvenile justice system is what happens with the kids after they leave the detention centers. They may be put on probation/ parole, which may monitor them slightly, but they generally stay in the environment where they first offended.

“One of the most important actions that can occur in the early court processing of a juvenile offender is the transfer process, or also known as waiver” (Siegel & Welsh, 2011). Before they had a juvenile court system, juvenile offenders were treated in the Adversarial Criminal Justice System, in the same manner as adults. These influenced legislators in many countries to think of alternative procedures that could be used in dealing with youthful offenders instead of subjecting them to the harsh treatment in the criminal justice system (Siegel & Welsh, 2011). So, this led to the establishment of juvenile courts that focused more on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Court proceedings were made more informal, and youthful offenders were since distanced from the Adversarial justice system.