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Similarities and differences between juvenile and adult court systems
Similarities and differences between juvenile and adult court systems
Juvenile justice system versus adult system
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Children are still learning and making mistakes every single day. They are in a transition to adulthood but they are not yet adults. Frequently, in juvenile cases it seems as though the prosecutors want to throw the child into an adult world just because they made one adult mistake. Since children are being forced into the adult world, they can be mistreated simply because a child is defenseless and vulnerable. Charlie illustrated this fact to a great extent when he is too terrified to talk to even Bryan, but eventually Bryan got through to Charlie, “‘There were three men who hurt me on the first night.
In many cases throughout the world, there has always and will be a controversial argument whether a “kid” should be trialed as an adult or not. The Supreme court has to take into action, whether the case was severe and how they will punish the teenager for whatever crime they committed. In, my opinion I highly agree that juveniles should be tried as adults no matter how old they are because they were aware of their actions and knew exactly what they were doing at the moment. Even, though some people might think otherwise, like they’re just ‘kids” and don’t know from right or wrong. Honestly, this is so, absurd because you can’t be that idiotic to not know what you’re doing.
There are certain instances of juveniles being tried as adults and sometimes ending up getting a life sentence without a chance of parole. I find that pretty harsh because there have been some cases where the juvenile meant no harm, they were either confused or brought along by gang members and they end up being charged along with the gang members for just being with them when a crime goes down. I believe that juveniles do not deserve to be given a life sentence because for one they are still maturing, they can learn from their mistakes and make amends, we still have to combat crimes like intended murder committed by a juvenile with extreme punishments especially if they are well over the age of 16. In the article published by the New York Times on March 14, 2012 “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences”, Garinger discusses that juveniles deserve a second chance since their brains are still developing.
I was doing a lot of research and I read on several cases but one that stood out to me the most was two 13-year-old girls that was accused of murder to impress a fictional character Slender man. They were tried as adults in the murder case. The teens were treated differently by the judge’s order. Many children that are tried in the state of Wisconsin could potentially face longer jail time and far less resources. They could also be potentially abused in the adult settings.
One might think that a juvenile should not be convicted as an adult. However, they should be for several reasons. If an adolescent is convicted as an adult, they have the possibility to get a longer sentence which gives them a longer time to ponder about their actions. Therefore, if an adolescent is convicted as an adult it could benefit them for several reasons.
There have been many times over the years where a child commits a crime and they either get the punishment of a child or they get the punishment of an adult depending on their age, or depending on what the crime they committed was. If you send a child to adult prison it is a lot more harsh than juve so they have to be kept from the other inmates because it is too dangerous for them to be around them. The children transferred to criminal court were less likely to commit the same crime than those who went through the juvenile system. The children who re offended offended sooner and more often than the children who were tried in the juvenile court. In some states if the child is convicted in criminal court they can plead insanity and get out of the of the sentence they would be facing.
When someone who commits a crime is determined to be mentally inadequate to be held accountable for the crimes they have committed, there are things that we do to charge them, but in a lesser way because of their mental capacity. Which begs the question, why are we allowing children to be sentenced to life, when their brains aren’t fully developed? When a child commits a crime we look over that, and stop seeing them as children. We shouldn’t sentence children to a life in prison when their brains are not only underdeveloped, but also missing a good portion of gray matter.
We have seen today in society of how crime rates have been rampant and how statistics show that most of the crimes were being made by minors. I believe that when most of them look at the bottom of these young offenders come disproportionately from impoverished single-parent homes that are located in the neighbourhoods desinvertido and have high rates of learning disabilities, mental health, and substance abuse and problems with the help of the system of juvenile justice that can make a great return on a successful transition to adulthood. Their ages ranged from 20 and under, most are under fifteen years of age. Juveniles tried as adults must assume the same consequences as any other criminal and are subject to state prisons with inmates much higher and that have probably committed crimes much more tortuous then you could ever have. These minors between the ages of nine to twenty according to the offence committed or of the number of times that are prosecuted and believe that it is immutable.
Where is the justice in a system that allows juveniles to be made into victims of heinous crimes while not providing these children with necessary rehabilitation? Adult prisons are terrible environments for rehabilitation of juvenile criminals. Juveniles are at high risk for sexual abuse and suicide in prison. “Congressional findings in the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 posited that juveniles were five times as likely to be sexually assaulted in adult rather than in juvenile facilities - often within their first 48 hours of incarceration.
Juveniles should be tried as adults due to being aware of their crimes and having an intention to kill, however, brain development and maturity can play a role into the reason why teens kill. With being tried as an adult juveniles should be granted the opportunity of freedom pending on their rehabilitation status and if requirements are not met, convicts will have to complete the remainder of their sentence. People have long argued that juveniles who commit a murder should not be tried as an adult due the juvenile not being aware of their crime. Awareness, as defined by the Webster Dictionary, is “the knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists”. Having the perception to comprehend the occurrence of an event is not a dumbfounded characteristic.
When kids are murdering their neighbors and families, they should not be treated as children, but as criminals. Some citizens may think that it is best for adolescents to be put on trial as juveniles, but if a child commits a serious crime, such as first-degree murder, they should not be treated better than if they were an adult. Whether a killer is 12 or 42, it does not matter to the person who was killed. The consequences of these crimes should be the same for juveniles as it is for adults. Everyone should be held accountable for their actions, no matter the age.
Annotated bibliography Childress, S. (2016, June 2). More States Consider Raising the Age for Juvenile Crime. Retrieved from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/more-states-consider-raising-the-age-for-juvenile-crime/ More states are considering to raising the age for juvenile crimes before being tried as adult because young offender's mental capacity. The idea is to cut the cost of incarcerate young offender in adult prison and ensure offenders to receive proper education and specialized care to change their behavior. Putting children in adult prison does not deter crime.
Even children have the capability to act and think the way as an adult would. Juveniles need to be held accountable for their actions because it was their actions that caused for them to be put in such a situation. 13 year old Derek King and his 12 year old brother, Alex, were being charged of bludgeoning their father, Terry King, to death. In the book, “Angels of Death,” by Gary C. King stated, “I hit him once and then I heard him moan and then I was afraid that he might wake up and see us, so I just kept on hitting him... I threw the bat on the bed, lit the bed on fire because I was scared of the [evidence] and everything.
Can you imagine waking up behind closed walls and bars? Waking up to see your inmate who is a 45-year-old bank robber and you are a 14-year-old minor who made a big mistake. This is why minors who have committed crimes should not be treated the same as adults. Some reasons are because the consequences given to minors in adult court would impact a minor’s life in a negative way. If a minor is tried through a juvenile court, they have a greater chance of rehabilitation.
Did you know that nearly three thousand children worldwide have been sentenced to life imprisonment without the opportunity for parole? Well according to Equal Justice Initiative, children as young as thirteen years old have been tried as adults and sentenced to die in prison (1). Since more children have been committing more crimes over the years they are being held accountable by the popular slogan, “If you’re old enough to do the crime, you’re old enough to do the time”. However, we need to understand and realize as Terry Maroney, the assistant professor for Vanderbilt Law, states, “Juveniles are not adults, and saying so doesn’t make it so” (2). Juveniles are kids and just because they chose or were force to choose the wrong path, do
