Since the 1970s, juvenile justice systems throughout America have become increasingly punitive (Hjalmarsson, 2009). During the course of the year 2015, over 130,000 juveniles were detained in the United States each year with approximately 70,000 in detention at any point in time (Aizer & Doyle, 2015). On the surface, these numbers appear to have an impact on deterrence among juvenile offenders, however, little is known about whether such a penalty actually deters future crime or interrupts social and human capital formation in a way that potentially increases later criminal behaviors (Aizer & Doyle, 2015). Initially, the get tough regarding juvenile criminal engagements seemed like a positive and proactive approach, but the placement of juveniles with adults creates a 77 percent likeliness for recidivism (Liebelson, n.d.). Moreover, several states have passed legislation that makes it easier to transfer juveniles to the criminal court systems (Hjalmarsson, 2009).
As no person could deny the fact that crimes committed by minors are steadily increasing, juveniles tried and treated as adults would likely result in a longer conviction sentence (7 Top Pros and Cons of Juveniles
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Therefore, detention should be utilized as a rehabilitative tool in order to provide juveniles with the change of changing behavioral patterns (Liebelson, n.d.). Moreover, there is a strong likeliness that the juvenile gets lost and negatively influenced while serving his/her sentence with adults. Overall, juveniles are still developing which yields a far better chance of rehabilitation if provided the opportunity (Aizer & Doyle, 2015). Finally, probably one of the biggest and obvious downfalls to this type of detention is that children do not understand or recognize the ways and order of adult prisons and jails, as they still maintain a sort of innocence (Liebelson,