My group went to the Cleveland Juvenile Justice Center to observe and interview Magistrate Kenneth Lusnia. He is the one who decides the fate and sentences of the juveniles. He studies their cases and backgrounds to decide what the best punishment for them is. He does not spend too much time with these juveniles besides when they are in the courtroom. They talk about the crime they committed, why they are there, and what their punishment is going to be. He tries his best to decide on a ruling that is best for the community, but especially for the juvenile. He usually only sees and deals with cases that are misdemeanors and not extremely dangerous. While interviewing Magistrate Lusnia we asked him very basic questions, of what his favorite part …show more content…
The worst part of his job is trying to find reasonable solutions to kids with multiple problems that have to be addressed when all options have been exhausted and all were unsuccessful, it is also very hard when the family and the juvenile do not want to help or participate. When talking about whether it is hard to be strict on young kids or not he said that sometimes the punishment has to get the attention of the juvenile and scare them so they know what they have gotten themselves into. The court provides a wide range of many different interventions and options to help the kids change their life around and do better. Magistrate Lusnia is very heavy on rehabilitation for juveniles 99% of the time Magistrate Lusnia will look for the juveniles to do things in the community rather than sending them straight to the youth detention …show more content…
He took us through a back set of doors that brought us to the housing center that all of the juveniles were in. He told us that all of the juveniles are in there together that is a mixture of children from the ages youngest of 10 to 17 with all different crimes of rape, murder, theft, etc. which was a complete shock to all of us and was a huge eye opener. I think that information really set us all back for a second and it had to sink in that children of just the age of 10 years old are capable of murder. Magistrate Lusnia also showed us that he got to leave through a back set of doors that no one else has access too because it can be a danger to him to just walk out of the front