Should Minors Commit Violent Crimes Be Tried As Adults?
As more minors are committing violent crimes, (Greenwald, 1983) the question arises, Should minors who commit violent crimes be tried as adults? Based on the following scenario one would agree that minors who commit violent crimes should be charged as adults. In the case of a Middlesex teenager and his girlfriend, his punishment was severe and ultimately cost him his life. His girlfriend’s punishment was not quite as severe (unknown, www.clarkprosecutor.org, n.d.). According to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, if a minor knows right from wrong and it can be proven they should be charged (Greenwald, 1983). One could conclude from that journal that minors should endure the punishment that goes with the crime; however, there is a
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gray area and each scenario should be judged on a case-by-case basis. Should minors be held accountable for their actions? Based on the U.S Department of Justice, yes, they should be charged for their crime (Redding, 2010). With further research charging minors as adults could indicate more problems than good. In November 1990, a teenager and his girlfriend plotted together to kill her parents because they did not want them be together. He was seventeen years old at the time and the girlfriend was fourteen. He had the shotgun and both of her parents died by the shotgun. The girlfriend allowed him into the home, helped arrange drugs on the floor to make it seem like a robbery and when one shot did not kill her mother, she urged him to shoot again. He was charged as an adult and put to death by lethal injection while she was charged as a juvenile then released when she turned 21. Was this the correct course of action? A deeper look is necessary to determine what is taken into consideration when sentencing a minor as an adult and where the line should be drawn. According to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, in today’s society juveniles are faced with two court systems. They can be charged as a juvenile or they can be charged as an adult (Greenwald, 1983). Over 31 states currently have laws that allow juveniles over the age of fourteen who have committed a violent crime to be charged as adults (Redding, 2010). According to the U.S.
Department of Justice, a juvenile should be charged according to their crime. If they committed a juvenile crime than a juvenile sentence is appropriate. If they commit an adult crime then an adult punishment is appropriate (Redding, 2010). As per the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, when it comes to death sentences minors are challenging the decision and saying that capital punishment is unconstitutional. Minors would argue that it violates the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the eighth amendment. (Greenwald, 1983) This 0Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause restricts the severity of punishments that state and federal governments may impose upon persons who have been convicted of criminal offenses (Greenwald, 1983). In the United States during the late eighteenth century, English common law rules were applied when sentencing a child. Under these rules children seven and under were not capable of forming criminal intent and therefore not liable for their actions. With ages seven to fourteen, they were still considered unable to form criminal intent (Greenwald, 1983). However, if the child could distinguish right from wrong and understood that the act they committed was wrong, then they could be tried as an adult. Children 14 and older were fully capable of forming a criminal intent and therefore tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. (Greenwald, 1983) According to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology there were …show more content…
reformers for children that believed society’s role was not to determine if a child was guilty or innocent but to determine why this individual committed a criminal act. The reformers believed that minors should be rehabilitated rather than punished. This is when juvenile correctional institutions were brought into practice (Greenwald, 1983). According to the U.S. Department of Justice, beginning in the 1980s many States passed laws that were tougher on juvenile crimes (Redding, 2010). The Juvenile Transfer Laws were put into place to expand the types of offenses and offenders eligible to be transferred from juvenile court to adult criminal court. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Juvenile Transfer Laws allowed juvenile courts to waive jurisdiction on a case-by-case bases. A juvenile court case may be transferred, with a judge’s approval, to adult court (Griffin, 2011). Based on two studies that were performed by the U.S Department of Justice, the laws did not lower juvenile crime rates as expected (Redding, 2010). In Idaho, the arrest rate increased by 13 percent for violent crimes committed by minors after the transfer law came into effect. In the neighboring states such as Montana and Wyoming juvenile arrest decreased. (Redding, 2010) In New York, the criminal court jurisdiction lowered to age 13 for murder but still no deterrent effect. When looking at those studies in Idaho, and New York the problem was, even though minors were being tried as adults the punishment was not severe. These minors may serve longer sentences then those in the juvenile court but they were released on bail, and would go to adult facilities but serve no longer, than the maximum time they would have served in juvenile detention. Seventy-eight percent were released before they turned 21. Ninety-five percent per released before age 25 with an average of 2 years and 8 months served. (Redding, 2010) Based on this studies one could conclude this punishment was not enough.
Further analysis of several states such as Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana determined that once the laws got stricter the juvenile offenders decided to stop offending (Redding, 2010). Minors thought as long as they were considered juvenile, they could be tried as adults, but did not believe that the law would be enforced against them. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, interviews conducted on transferred juveniles shed some light on their thoughts. Seventy-five percent interviewed felt that the adult criminal justice system taught them the seriousness of committing crimes (Redding, 2010). One juvenile stated, “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 caught.” Others stated that if they knew they were going to be tried and sentenced as an adult they would have not committed the crime (Redding, 2010).
According to the UCLA School of Law, another problem that arises minors of color are transferred to adult criminal court in greater numbers than white youth. African-Americans are overrepresented and constitute 50% to 95% of all transferred youth (Law, 2010). African-American youth age 10 to 17 represents about 15% of their age group nationally, yet they represent close to 60% of waivers to adult criminal court (Law, 2010). The UCLA School of Law report indicates that African-American youth constitute 62% of cases filed in adult courts. Native American youth constitute the majority of youth held in the federal juvenile justice system, and 31% of Native American youth are committed to the Federal Bureau of Prisons as adults (Law, 2010). Additionally, Latino youth are 43% more likely than white youth to be waived to the adult criminal justice system and 40% more likely to be incarcerated in adult prison (Law, 2010). According to the UCLA School of Law, one could conclude that some cases could be charged more severe due to ethnicity.
According to the UCLA School of Law the solution for the minors being charged more severely due to ethnicity will not go away overnight (Law, 2010). According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, there are four ways to address racial disparities in the judicial system (McElroy, 2000). The first is to acknowledge the cumulative problems of racial inconsistency during charging/sentencing. Based on the statement one could conclude that if the problem is acknowledged than the courts can work hard at stopping it. Making everyone in the court system aware that this is being watched. Another encourage communication across players in all decision points of the system. According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, you have to have strategies in the criminal judicial system to tackle this issue. Everyone will need to be on one accord, and when one does not adhere; it can be caught and reported. Next, know that what works at one decision point may not work for others. Each court case needs to be handled uniquely depending on the degree of differences and specific population. Lastly, work toward systemic change, there must be a change system wide (McElroy, 2000). Juveniles need to be aware of the stricter transfer laws. This can be done by publicly showing these laws in our schools with brochures announcing the laws, television commercials, and court systems. Minors need to know that these laws will be enforced against them. This awareness will deter criminal behavior from minors because they will know and understand that they will be charged to the full measure of the law despite their age and ethnicity (Redding, 2010).
References
Estudillo, M.
O. (2001). ucsdguardian.org. Retrieved from Paying Time For Committing Crime: http://ucsdguardian.org/paying-time-for-committing-crime/
Estudillo, M. O. (2001, February 27). www.gale.cengage.com. Retrieved from Juveniles Should Be Tried as Adults in Certain Circumstances : http://www.gale.cengage.com/pdf/samples/sp740776.pdf
Greenwald, H. B. (1983). Capital Punishment For Minors: An Eighth Amendment Analysis. The Journal Of Criminal Law & Criminology, 74 (4), 1471-1517.
Griffin, P. (2011). Trying Juveniles as Adults: An Analysis of State Transfer Laws and Reporting. Washington, DC 20531: Office of Justice Programs.
Law, U. S. (2010). THE IMPACT OF PROSECUTING YOUTH In The Adult Criminal Justice System. Washington DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Programs.
McElroy, D. S. (2000). Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers. Washington, D.C: The Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Redding, R. E. (2010, June). Juvenile Transfer Laws: An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency? Retrieved from U.S. Department of Justice :
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/220595.pdf
Spencer, J. (1999, June 18). Daily Press . Jessica Wiseman Can 't Erase Dark Event With Words. unknown. (2014). www.dailyworld.com. Retrieved from Editorial: Some juveniles should be tried as adults: http://www.dailyworld.com/article/20131022/OPINION/310220004/Editorial-Some-juveniles-should-tried-adults unknown. (n.d.). www.clarkprosecutor.org. Retrieved from Douglas Christopher Thomas: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/thomas601.htm
gray area and each scenario should be judged on a case-by-case basis. Should minors be held accountable for their actions? Based on the U.S Department of Justice, yes, they should be charged for their crime (Redding, 2010). With further research charging minors as adults could indicate more problems than good. In November 1990, a teenager and his girlfriend plotted together to kill her parents because they did not want them be together. He was seventeen years old at the time and the girlfriend was fourteen. He had the shotgun and both of her parents died by the shotgun. The girlfriend allowed him into the home, helped arrange drugs on the floor to make it seem like a robbery and when one shot did not kill her mother, she urged him to shoot again. He was charged as an adult and put to death by lethal injection while she was charged as a juvenile then released when she turned 21. Was this the correct course of action? A deeper look is necessary to determine what is taken into consideration when sentencing a minor as an adult and where the line should be drawn. According to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, in today’s society juveniles are faced with two court systems. They can be charged as a juvenile or they can be charged as an adult (Greenwald, 1983). Over 31 states currently have laws that allow juveniles over the age of fourteen who have committed a violent crime to be charged as adults (Redding, 2010). According to the U.S.
Department of Justice, a juvenile should be charged according to their crime. If they committed a juvenile crime than a juvenile sentence is appropriate. If they commit an adult crime then an adult punishment is appropriate (Redding, 2010). As per the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, when it comes to death sentences minors are challenging the decision and saying that capital punishment is unconstitutional. Minors would argue that it violates the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the eighth amendment. (Greenwald, 1983) This 0Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause restricts the severity of punishments that state and federal governments may impose upon persons who have been convicted of criminal offenses (Greenwald, 1983). In the United States during the late eighteenth century, English common law rules were applied when sentencing a child. Under these rules children seven and under were not capable of forming criminal intent and therefore not liable for their actions. With ages seven to fourteen, they were still considered unable to form criminal intent (Greenwald, 1983). However, if the child could distinguish right from wrong and understood that the act they committed was wrong, then they could be tried as an adult. Children 14 and older were fully capable of forming a criminal intent and therefore tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. (Greenwald, 1983) According to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology there were …show more content…
reformers for children that believed society’s role was not to determine if a child was guilty or innocent but to determine why this individual committed a criminal act. The reformers believed that minors should be rehabilitated rather than punished. This is when juvenile correctional institutions were brought into practice (Greenwald, 1983). According to the U.S. Department of Justice, beginning in the 1980s many States passed laws that were tougher on juvenile crimes (Redding, 2010). The Juvenile Transfer Laws were put into place to expand the types of offenses and offenders eligible to be transferred from juvenile court to adult criminal court. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Juvenile Transfer Laws allowed juvenile courts to waive jurisdiction on a case-by-case bases. A juvenile court case may be transferred, with a judge’s approval, to adult court (Griffin, 2011). Based on two studies that were performed by the U.S Department of Justice, the laws did not lower juvenile crime rates as expected (Redding, 2010). In Idaho, the arrest rate increased by 13 percent for violent crimes committed by minors after the transfer law came into effect. In the neighboring states such as Montana and Wyoming juvenile arrest decreased. (Redding, 2010) In New York, the criminal court jurisdiction lowered to age 13 for murder but still no deterrent effect. When looking at those studies in Idaho, and New York the problem was, even though minors were being tried as adults the punishment was not severe. These minors may serve longer sentences then those in the juvenile court but they were released on bail, and would go to adult facilities but serve no longer, than the maximum time they would have served in juvenile detention. Seventy-eight percent were released before they turned 21. Ninety-five percent per released before age 25 with an average of 2 years and 8 months served. (Redding, 2010) Based on this studies one could conclude this punishment was not enough.
Further analysis of several states such as Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana determined that once the laws got stricter the juvenile offenders decided to stop offending (Redding, 2010). Minors thought as long as they were considered juvenile, they could be tried as adults, but did not believe that the law would be enforced against them. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, interviews conducted on transferred juveniles shed some light on their thoughts. Seventy-five percent interviewed felt that the adult criminal justice system taught them the seriousness of committing crimes (Redding, 2010). One juvenile stated, “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 caught.” Others stated that if they knew they were going to be tried and sentenced as an adult they would have not committed the crime (Redding, 2010).
According to the UCLA School of Law, another problem that arises minors of color are transferred to adult criminal court in greater numbers than white youth. African-Americans are overrepresented and constitute 50% to 95% of all transferred youth (Law, 2010). African-American youth age 10 to 17 represents about 15% of their age group nationally, yet they represent close to 60% of waivers to adult criminal court (Law, 2010). The UCLA School of Law report indicates that African-American youth constitute 62% of cases filed in adult courts. Native American youth constitute the majority of youth held in the federal juvenile justice system, and 31% of Native American youth are committed to the Federal Bureau of Prisons as adults (Law, 2010). Additionally, Latino youth are 43% more likely than white youth to be waived to the adult criminal justice system and 40% more likely to be incarcerated in adult prison (Law, 2010). According to the UCLA School of Law, one could conclude that some cases could be charged more severe due to ethnicity.
According to the UCLA School of Law the solution for the minors being charged more severely due to ethnicity will not go away overnight (Law, 2010). According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, there are four ways to address racial disparities in the judicial system (McElroy, 2000). The first is to acknowledge the cumulative problems of racial inconsistency during charging/sentencing. Based on the statement one could conclude that if the problem is acknowledged than the courts can work hard at stopping it. Making everyone in the court system aware that this is being watched. Another encourage communication across players in all decision points of the system. According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, you have to have strategies in the criminal judicial system to tackle this issue. Everyone will need to be on one accord, and when one does not adhere; it can be caught and reported. Next, know that what works at one decision point may not work for others. Each court case needs to be handled uniquely depending on the degree of differences and specific population. Lastly, work toward systemic change, there must be a change system wide (McElroy, 2000). Juveniles need to be aware of the stricter transfer laws. This can be done by publicly showing these laws in our schools with brochures announcing the laws, television commercials, and court systems. Minors need to know that these laws will be enforced against them. This awareness will deter criminal behavior from minors because they will know and understand that they will be charged to the full measure of the law despite their age and ethnicity (Redding, 2010).
References
Estudillo, M.
O. (2001). ucsdguardian.org. Retrieved from Paying Time For Committing Crime: http://ucsdguardian.org/paying-time-for-committing-crime/
Estudillo, M. O. (2001, February 27). www.gale.cengage.com. Retrieved from Juveniles Should Be Tried as Adults in Certain Circumstances : http://www.gale.cengage.com/pdf/samples/sp740776.pdf
Greenwald, H. B. (1983). Capital Punishment For Minors: An Eighth Amendment Analysis. The Journal Of Criminal Law & Criminology, 74 (4), 1471-1517.
Griffin, P. (2011). Trying Juveniles as Adults: An Analysis of State Transfer Laws and Reporting. Washington, DC 20531: Office of Justice Programs.
Law, U. S. (2010). THE IMPACT OF PROSECUTING YOUTH In The Adult Criminal Justice System. Washington DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Programs.
McElroy, D. S. (2000). Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers. Washington, D.C: The Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Redding, R. E. (2010, June). Juvenile Transfer Laws: An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency? Retrieved from U.S. Department of Justice :
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/220595.pdf
Spencer, J. (1999, June 18). Daily Press . Jessica Wiseman Can 't Erase Dark Event With Words. unknown. (2014). www.dailyworld.com. Retrieved from Editorial: Some juveniles should be tried as adults: http://www.dailyworld.com/article/20131022/OPINION/310220004/Editorial-Some-juveniles-should-tried-adults unknown. (n.d.). www.clarkprosecutor.org. Retrieved from Douglas Christopher Thomas: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/thomas601.htm