It was noted that while juveniles are capable of committing truly heinous crimes, they are not fully culpable for three main reasons. The first reason discussed was that juveniles under the age of eighteen lack the maturity and responsibility that adults have attained. This shortcoming causes decisions and subsequent actions to be poorly thought out. Basically, juveniles are not responsible decision makers. This idea was supported by the fact that most states do not allow minors to vote, do jury duty, or get married without consent. The second rationale for why juveniles are less culpable than adults dealt with environment. It was suggested that juveniles lack control over their environment. They do not have the ability to remove themselves from an environment that encourages delinquency. Finally, juveniles are less culpable because they are still developing a sense of self identity. This suggests that behaviors exhibited now may not be part of their character in five or ten years, allowing for recovery. The majority then argued that the same reasoning they used in Stanford v. Kentucky applied to Roper v. Simmons, and that the eighth amendment did not allow for the execution of people under age eighteen due to lesser culpability (Counsel of Record,…
The United States government is based on a checks and balances type system. The three main parts of this system are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. This judicial system’s job is to uphold the law of the land. Law can be defined as a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments for those who do not follow the established rules of conduct (Wikipedia.org, 2005). This is a very wide and all encompassing definition of the law and the governing judicial system. Just like the United States government the judicial system is broken up into different checks, balances, and systems. Two of these main systems are the juvenile justices system and the adult justice system. The obvious difference between these two courts is that the juvenile system is designed to handle youth offenders and the adult system is designed to handle adult offenders. Both of these two systems despite their difference have the same end goal; to administer justice. In the pages to follow we will discuss the big picture of the juvenile justice system, go over a point by point comparison between the juvenile system and the adult system, touch on both the benefits and disadvantages to being tried as a minor in the juvenile court from the perspective of a minor, and review the societal implication of abolishing the juvenile court system.…
Semple, J. & Woody, W. (2011). Juveniles tried as adults: the age of the juvenile matters.…
Robert Schwartz is the co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center in 1975 and has been the executive director there since 1982. This is a nonprofit public interest law firm that ensures the youths in foster care and justice systems are treated fairly and have the same opportunities in life in their adult years. Studies also show that the juvenile justice system protects the public much better than the criminal justice system. He argues that “kids are incompetent to be tried as adults, trying them as juveniles it not excusing the crime.” (Schwartz 2010). He thinks that at a young age a child could not process information and plan horrific crimes like an adult can. Youths struggle with impulsiveness, immaturity, undeveloped decision making, susceptibility to negative peer pressure and lack of future orientation. They do not have the common sense, problem…
Are you an Authoritative or Permissive when it comes to parenting your child? In ways they are positive and negative for the child as they are growing up. Each way gives a perspective on situation should be handled; but in most of these cases when a child is told to do something it is hard for them to “Comprehend” how it needs to be done. That is when parenting comes into play and the child when then to receive and retain or to deny and rebel…Even though it is an action a parent can control sometimes how they bring up the child from birth sets them in a distinct path which is hard to get out of.…
The kid would have to be guilty, there was enough proof to prove he was guilty. The kid should be guilty because there was so much proof that he was guilty that its ridiculous. If the kid wasn’t guilty he could have had so much evidence to prove he wasn’t including the pockets that had the hole in them or the movie ticket he had when he watched the movie at the theaters. He didn’t have the movie ticket so he couldn’t prove he was at the movies at the time of the killing. He didn’t have the pants or whatever he was wearing that had the holes in the pocket to prove he lost his switch blade in there.…
The judicial system was created to protect and hold stability in society which is why two systems were put in place, the juvenile system and the adult system. However, recently the boundaries for these two systems are growing weaker as serious juvenile offenders are getting tried in adult court. Juveniles are not authorized to drink alcohol, sign a document, gamble at a casino or vote till they are an adult. Regardless to the crime they have committed, a juvenile is a juvenile and an adult is an adult, therefore sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court. Sixteen year olds being tried in adult court is wrong because they are able to effectively reform, their brains are not sufficiently developed and they are vulnerable to adult prisons.…
In this paper, I will look at current scholarly thought to determine the effectiveness of trying juveniles as adults in a court of law. In extreme instances, juveniles of a broad range of ages have committed violent crimes that the criminal justice system has determined to be impossible to have been committed by the accepted frame of mind of a juvenile. These juveniles were tried in adult court and sentenced accordingly. The purpose of my research is to examine juveniles who have been tried as adults and to discuss its strengths and weaknesses. I will analyze the information that I gather and will provide a strong case that this practice is appropriate. Many people believe that some crimes are so terrible that the courts should focus on the type of offense and not on the age of the accused.…
If a minor is not tried as an adult, his or her, case is heard by a judge, no jury and in a juvenile court. Then a judge gets to decide what is in the best interest for the child and the child's family. A lot of children that commit crimes come from screwed-up backgrounds and could use some help getting on the right track. So a juvenile judge could sentence the child to a reform school or a juvenile facility with a rehabilitation program and release as the…
Determining whether a juvenile is identified as a child or an adult is quite simple. If a juvenile is under the age of 18 then he or she is not an adult and if a juvenile has graduated from high school then he or she is identified as an adult. I believe that if a juvenile has not developed a certain level of intelligence or has not emotionally developed then they can’t be identified as an adult. In addition to that, although juveniles may have developed the sense of knowing right from wrong they may not know what’s right from wrong in the “adult world.” There have been laws passed to permitting juveniles to be transferred to adult court. The process with transferring juveniles to adult courts starts with the seriousness of the offense committed by the juvenile. If a juvenile has committed an offense such as armed robbery or murder then without a doubt there aren’t any excuses for…
Juvenile Justice: Should children be tried as adults? Are youth capable of fully understanding the consequences that their actions may cause or are they mentally incapable of processing that information? Juveniles commit crimes just like adults. Sometimes the crimes they commit are heinous, but does that mean they are no longer a child? I believe there may be special cases when a youth should be tried as an adult, but in most cases, they need to be processed through the juvenile justice system.…
The primary difference between the juvenile court system and the adult court system is that the juvenile is viewed by the court with more civility and as an delinquent and on the other hand in adult court is it view with criminality. Moreover, the standard of proof when it comes to a juvenile he or she in the courts system is looked upon as with the preponderance of the evidence and in adult court the standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. However, both the adult and the juvenile has the right to remain silent and refrain from self-incrimination and also, they both have the right to confront their accusers and the right to counsel and/or an attorney.…
Juvenile crimes on the rise are not something society should ignore. But we are seeing more rapidly, courts are trying juveniles as adults. Many argue that it does not benefit the suspect or the society, if they are punished the same way as adults. So in this research I plan to analyze whether it is good or bad to trial juveniles as adults.…
Adults are assumed innocent until proven guilty. For juveniles, guilt and innocence are not primary issues. The system focuses on the best interest of the child. Children can get rights to treatment for their behavior, but adults do not have the right to treatment. Juvenile procedures want to protect and treat the child. With adults, the main concern is to punish them for what they’ve done wrong and try to reform them. Juveniles can’t get sentenced to jail or prison because they are reserved for adults. These differences focus on the brain function of the offender. Most states have an…
In recent discussion of Juvenile Justice, a controversial issue has been whether juveniles should be tried as adults in adult courts for heinous crimes they have committed. On one hand, some argue that they should not be tried as adults and do not deserve harsh sentences but as children seeking help. On the other hand, however, others argue that those who commit such heinous crimes ought to be punished no matter the age. The juvenile court was created to handle juvenile offenders on the basis of their youth rather than their crimes. The purpose of juvenile court is treatment and guidance rather than punishment. Juveniles don't have the knowledgeable or moral capacity to understand the consequences of their actions; similarly, they lack the same capacity to be trial defendants. Juveniles today are more knowledgeable and cultured at a younger age; they understand the implications of violence and how violent weapons are used. It is irrational to argue that a juvenile, who sees the effect of violence around him in the news every day, does not understand what killing really is. The fact that “adolescent killers” know how to load and shoot a gun or use a knife to kill is an indicator that they understand exactly what they're doing.…