Christian Fernandez is a twelve-year-old boy that was accused of two heinous crimes including first degree murder beating death of his two-year old half-brother and the sexual abuse of his five-year-old half-brother. In reviewing this controversy case, there are many supporters of Christian being charged as an adult while others uphold the position that this case should be tried in the juvenile court system. The foci point of this controversy is centered on the notion of punitive verses rehabilitation. In reviewing the dynamics of the Christian Fernandez case, there are many aspects that need to be taken into consideration. Christian grew up in a dysfunctional family system whereas both he and his fourteen-year mother were placed in a foster home setting due to his grandmother abusing illegal substances. The Department of Children and Families Services conducted investigations regarding incidents of physical and sexual abuse of Christian throughout his short lifetime. Unfortunately, Christian was a child that fell through the cracks and did not receive the services necessary for assisting him with his traumatic experiences. This in a contributing factor for setting the …show more content…
Puritz and Majid (2007 p, 471) reports that “media is also contributes to this change as they were disproportionately portraying African American youth, and a misperception that juvenile crime was rising ignited support for these reforms. It is also noteworthy how committing a serious or violent offense one time (and consequently being transferred to adult court) does not automatically mean an adult court youth is a serious or violent offender. Bishop & Frazier (2000) prior research suggests that adult court youth are a very heterogeneous group of juvenile offenders, with some being neither exceptionally serious nor