The criminal justice system is defined as the set of agencies and processes established by governments to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate laws (need citation). According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, which is the nation's leading resource and advocacy organization for crime victims and those who serve them, there are two main systems: state and federal. State criminal justice systems handle crimes committed within their state boundaries whereas the federal criminal justice system handles crimes committed on federal property or in more than one state. The system components consist of law enforcement, prosecution, defense attorneys, …show more content…
In addition, they said because their character was not yet fully developed, they could be rehabilitated more successfully than adult criminals. These are the principles that remain the benchmarks of juvenile justice in the United States. (Law.jrank.org)
Portillo 1 Eji.org, the Equal Justice Initiative which is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, focuses on the mental and emotional impact of the punitive aspect of incarceration. Michigan’s juvenile waiver law of 1997 lowered the age and made it so juveniles can automatically be tried as adults. California’s proposition 21, passed in 2000, permits prosecutors to send juveniles accused of felonies to adult courts. In an article titled “Children in Prison” written by EJI, they state, “Some young teens cannot manage the emotional, social, and psychological challenges of adolescence and eventually engage in …show more content…
He says, “There is a malaise at the heart of the criminal justice system, it's harsher, more punitive and more dehumanising than ever.” (need citation) The fact that Juveniles housed with adults lack the rehabilitative opportunities that their peers receive is a minor example of how the well being of the offender is ignored. Housing juveniles with adults is counterproductive and there are inevitable situations that minors encounter which include harassment, sexual assault, and rape. Furthermore, of the juveniles held in adult jails, most of them are awaiting trial, as 39 states permit or require that youth charged as adults be held in an adult jail before they are tried. However, the majority of youth prosecuted in adult court are charged with nonviolent