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Challenges facing the juvenile Justice system
Challenges facing the juvenile Justice system
Racism in law enforcement
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In the documentary “When Kids Get Life” by Ofra Bikel we see five men who were sentenced to life in prison for committing crimes in their teens. We hear the stories of how it happened, why it happened, and what life is like for them today. This documentary sheds light on the battle that juveniles face when they commit crimes and the judicial system. This documentary relates heavily in the material we learn because although it is about teenagers who receive life in prison, the judicial system plays a key role.
This book contains a report on Los Angeles State Juvenile Justice System court written by Edward Humes, the Pulitzer Prize award winner, nonfiction, and true crime writer. Out of all the twelve books he has written, five of them involve the criminal justice system, used mostly in criminal studies field. “No Matter How Loud I Shout” is the main book that examined the complicated life of the juvenile justice system, reporting the stories of several juvenile offenders and the juvenile justice officials. More especially, how they direct the arbitrary laws of the juvenile justice system. Humes, in this book, delivers an excellent, in-depth, eye-opening, informative, and often depressing account of what goes on behind the closed doors of America
It is shocking to know that before 1967 youths in the United States did not have the same rights as adults in court. Before the landmark case In Re Gault individuals underage were not promised the freedoms under the fourteenth amendment. The court system did not take juvenile delinquent cases as seriously. It was almost as if they brushed the delinquents under the rug and put them into a detention center the first chance they got. The Supreme Court came to the conclusion that in the case of In Re Gault the requirements for due process were not met.
Roper v. Simmons is considered a landmark case and is one of a handful that shows a new direction in granting some relief from what has been established as harsh “adult” punishments for juveniles (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). In fact, many studies are showing that the differences between adults and juveniles are quite significant (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). The courts are realizing that these differences must be taking into account when dealing with juveniles in the criminal justice system (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). However, that being said, change does not occur overnight, and for the unforeseeable future, juveniles will still continue to be waived into adult courts (Elrod & Ryder, 2014).
To the average, white, upper-middle class adult, it is easy to think that delinquent minority youth are deserving of the punishment they receive. It is easy to demand retributive punishment from the comforts of your own home, in a suburban neighborhood where second chances probably aren’t hard to come by. Now, it is overgeneralizing to claim that people from well-off backgrounds have skewed perspectives of poor minority youth, but the fact that these troubled youths have to deal with a systemic culture of punishment in their everyday lives is nothing short of the truth. It is known that many of our youth possess a rebellious attitude towards higher forces of power, but what constitutes the divide between youth and those in power, specifically
The federal government’s “War on Crime” by the Johnson administration in the 60s made way for tougher law enforcement and surveillance (Hinton, 2015). However, with this came the separation of children and adults in the criminal justice system; then the separation of juvenile delinquents from status offenders. As mentioned, status offenders are different from juvenile delinquents because they had broken rules which apply to only children. Meanwhile, juvenile delinquents are youths under the age of 18, who committed offenses that would be punishable to adults as well. By the late 1960s, there became a growing concern that juveniles involved in the court-based status-offense system, were not getting their best interests met (Shubik & Kendall, 2007).
Within the urban communities, negative perceptions are magnified. Adolescents are more prone to be a product of their environment, especially those whose parents are incarcerated. Because of this trend adolescents are being incarcerated at an alarming rate and sentenced to adult facilities. Lambie & Randall (2013) states, the United States have imposed harsher penalties on serious young offenders, and have consequently increased rates of incarcerated youth and made it easier for youth to be treated and incarcerated as adults within the justice
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.
There are many children in the world who are being put behind bars and detained for alleged wrongdoing without protections they are entitled to. Throughout the world, children are charged and sentenced for actions that should not be considered as adult crimes. Here in the United States, the minimum age of criminal responsibility is age 12. Law enforcement officials and those in the juvenile justice system nationwide tend to mistreat underage individuals by trying cases while working through the lens of an adult. Unfair punishments are still handed down domestically, which is in violation of Supreme Court law.
Imagine being a child imprisoned for committing a crime for which you did not understand the consequences. Alone and afraid, with only hardened criminals and psychopaths as adult role models, you live in fear. Through a vicious combination of physical, sexual, emotional, and mental abuse, there is no option but to turn back to crime as an adult, and continue the cycle. This is a daily reality for thousands of American juveniles. Yet, we continue to call it the juvenile justice system.
The juvenile justice system has made numerous of ethical issues when managing juvenile offenders. The issue with the juvenile justice system is the laws and rules that govern it. It has led to years of controversial debate over the ethical dilemmas of the juvenile corrections system, and how they work with youth offenders. The number of minors entering the juvenile justice system is increasing every month. The reasons why the juvenile justice system faces ethical dilemmas is important and needs to be addressed: (1) a vast proportion of juveniles are being tried and prosecuted as adults; (2) the psychological maturation of the juvenile to fully comprehend the justice system; and (3) the factors that contribute to minorities being adjudicated in the juvenile justice system are more likely than White offenders.
Juvenile Justice Issues In today’s society the youth generation seems to be facing some problems that there is no solution for. Juveniles are participating in many wrongdoing activities that they are not being held accountable for. I see many gray areas when it comes to the juveniles justice system and I strongly believe there should be changes made in order to help these juveniles be deterred from such behavior so they do not continue down a path that can affect the rest of their lives.
It is debated that juveniles are committing more serious and violent crimes because the youth think they can get off easy and take advantage of the system put in place. Those in favor of youth offenders being tried as adults believe that as juveniles are punished to the full extent of the law, future youth offender will think twice before committing a criminal act. In support of this, seventy-five percent of the transferred juveniles interviewed by Redding and Fuller (2004) felt that their experiences in the adult criminal justice system had taught them the serious consequences of committing crimes. As one juvenile explained, “[Being tried as an adult] showed me it’s not a game anymore. Before, I thought that since I’m a juvenile I could do just about anything and just get 6 months if I got
Juvenile Justice Should juveniles get treated as adults that’s one of the biggest controversy in our nation now days, with many juveniles committing crimes that are inconceivable according to their age. Judges have the last word on how to treat this young people. Many people argue that “the teens that are under eighteen are only kids, they won’t count them as young adults, not until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager this people are to call them adults” (Lundstrom 87). This is why people can’t come to a decision as how these young people should be treated like.
Teenagers are not perfect, and their irrational behavior can lead to poor decisions that could potentially be dangerous and unlawful. A debate has now occurred for many years that deals with the issue of sentencing teens that have committed serious crimes such as murder and robbery. Many people argue that if juveniles commit these crimes that their punishment should be equal to an adults punishment for serious crimes, but juveniles shouldn’t have to worry about their lives getting ruined. Most juveniles and teenagers do not have enough maturity to survive in the adult prison system, and recent brain development research shows us that teenagers brains are not even close to being finished developing. Therefore, teenagers and youth under the age of eighteen should
