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.…
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention report evaluated a study of outcomes for juveniles prosecuted in adult court rather than in juvenile court and found that there were counter-deterrent effects of transfer laws. Trying Juveniles as Adults, supra . A summary of six studies found that there was greater overall recidivism for juveniles prosecuted in adult court than juveniles whose crimes “matched” in juvenile court. Id. Juveniles in adult court also recidivated sooner and more frequently. Id. These higher rates of recidivism can be attributed to a variety of reasons, including lack of access to rehabilitative resources in the adult corrections system, problems when housed with adult criminals, and direct and indirect effects…
The adjudication process in which a juvenile is transferred to the adult court system can take place in several ways, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Transfer laws vary state to state; however, such transfers fall under three basic categories, the judicial waiver laws, prosecutorial discretion or concurrent laws, and statutory exclusion laws. Judicial waiver law is the most common transfer used and is done on a case-by-case basis (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2011). This transfer allows the juvenile case to be filed in juvenile court but is transferred to adult court with the approval of the juvenile judge. The prosecutorial discretion or concurrent law gives the prosecutor sole discretion on whether to file charges in juvenile or adult court. No hearings that take place with this process ( (OJJDP, 2011). The statutory exclusion law grants adult courts exclusive jurisdiction over classes of cases involving juvenile offenders. This law requires juvenile courts to waive jurisdiction cases that meet specific age/offense or prior record criteria (OJJDP,…
Semple, J. & Woody, W. (2011). Juveniles tried as adults: the age of the juvenile matters.…
There are many differences in juvenile court and in adult court. In the juvenile justice system rehabilitation and treatment, in addition to community protection, are considered to be primary and viable goals. In criminal adult court rehabilitation is not considered a primary goal in the criminal justice system, which operates under the assumption that criminal sanctions should be proportional to the offense. Deterrence is seen as a successful outcome of punishment (Vermont Judiciary, 2004). Limitations are placed on public access to juvenile records because of the belief that juvenile offenders can be successfully rehabilitated, and to avoid their unnecessary stigmatization. Court proceedings may be confidential to…
Every year, juvenile courts in the United States handle an estimated 1.7 million cases in which a youth was charged with a delinquency offense (“Youth in the Justice System,” 2012). Throughout most of history, youthful offenders were handled under the same laws and system as adults were. While deviance has always been around, societal intervention and participation in handling juvenile transgressors has gained the most momentum in the last 100–150 years (Whitehead & Lab, 2013). A separate juvenile justice system was established in the United States with a goal of diverting youthful offenders from the adult system while encouraging rehabilitation. Today, one would hear that the system’s goal is to react to juveniles in ways that protect the…
Using a judicial waiver allows the juvenile court judge to pass the case over to the subsequent federal or state adult court. This is normally done after the judge conducts a hearing that establishes if the juvenile can be treated or if the juvenile is a "threat to society." The use of judicial waivers are often governed by the state or federal legislative body, unfortunately, this means that at times the law is based on a presumption that may not have a factual basis. In many cases regardless of current condition a juvenile may be rehabilitated much easier than the initial hearing will determine. Unfortunately, the law may not allow additional chances at showing if the case, which in turn means the juvenile, may end in adult court when the juveniles could have been treated through juvenile court…
b. Delinquency and Detention – “Harsh conditions and over-crowding in detention facilities lead to increased reports of suicide attempts, stress-related illnesses, and psychiatric problems.” (National Juvenile Detention Association and Youth Law Center, 1998)…
Juvenile incarceration has created a lot of uncertainties in the legal justice system. This is because it is often assumed that indeed there are several persons that are underage that at the time of the crime did not have the proper mental reasoning to appreciate that indeed they were committing a crime. For this reason, there has been several problems regarding Juvenile incarceration and it has been argued that there is a need to re-evaluate and ensure that indeed the problems that affect the system are given the proper judicial involvement and justice. . This paper is going to examine how different it is from adults and juvenile when it comes to…
Juveniles have been incarcerated in secure facilities since 1974. Juveniles are committing more heinous crimes and citizens have advocated for tougher penalties on crime. They want justice for the violence perpetrated on their families, businesses and communities. The Juvenile Justice system is charged with simultaneously protecting the public as well as reforming those juveniles who are convicted and sentenced to secure facilities. Barry C. Feld (1995) believes that there is a “desire to "get tough," fueled in part by frustration with the intractability of crime, that provides political impetus to transfer some young offenders to criminal courts for prosecution as adults and to strengthen the sanctioning powers of juvenile courts”(p.966).…
Such statutes have had an incredible impact on the U.S. juvenile justice system. The original purpose of creating a separate juvenile court was to keep adolescents out of adult prisons, limit their exposure to adult criminal activity and poor role models, and also to provide guidance that helps them to turn away from further criminal behavior and be directed toward more positive results. It seemed that the individual juvenile offender cases were not getting looked at based on the individual characteristics or needs of the offender, rather whomever prosecuted the case was determining it based on the nature of the offense. Because of this, there were greater numbers of juvenile offenders having their cases in adult criminal courts, which do not…
In contemporary society, there is a debate over whether a separate justice system should exist for juveniles and adults. While some juveniles have demonstrated the need for a separate justice system for juveniles, others have proven otherwise. There are separate justice systems for juvenile and adult offenders because of the belief that the mind of juveniles can be reformed unlike adult offenders. However, the juvenile justice system is similar to the adult justice system in many ways. In terms of the rights of the offenders, both juvenile and adult offenders have the right to an attorney, the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses, the right to protection against self-incrimination, the right to notice of charges, and prosecution needs proof beyond a reasonable doubt…
Punishment was the central criminal law philosophy in English common law. A conclusive presumption that children under seven could not form criminal intent eliminated the youngest from the criminal justice system. Children between the ages of seven and fourteen were presumed incompetent to form the requisite criminal intent; the prosecutor, however, could rebut that presumption by demonstrating that the child knew the difference between right and wrong. Children over age fourteen were presumed to have the capacity to form criminal intent. There were no special courts for children, and they were treated as adult criminals. Minors were arrested, held in custody, and tried and sentenced by a court that had discretion to order the child imprisoned in the same jail as adult criminals. Although children received the same punishment as adults, they were not provided with many of the due process protections accorded adult criminals. For instance, minors did not have a right to "bail, indictment by grand jury, [and] right to a public trial."…
In this assignment, I am required to explain the court process as it relates to the juvenile offenders in the criminal justice system. I think that first, it is very important to realize that there are many different outlets to consider when speaking on the ways in which the juvenile court process works. I think that we need to realize that there are different ways that a juvenile can be processed after committing a crime. The defendant is required to be examined to see, the severity of the crime, the number prior convictions the defendant has and the reasons and the cause of the crimes. These are all things that a prosecutor needs to know in order to determine if a juvenile is to be incarcerated or released or if they are to have other forms of punishment.…
Juvenile transfer is the process of removing juvenile offenders from the juvenile court and placing them into the adult court. Although states implement this process in varying ways, it is seen in different viewpoints as either having a positive effect on juveniles or a negative effect. Studies have been conducted examining the statistics regarding recidivism for juveniles who have been transferred to the adult court versus those who have not. After taking a look at these two perspectives, I have gained a broader understanding of the multiple studies that have been conducted over juvenile transfer and its effectiveness, and have come to the conclusion that it is a sound policy that should continue to be used in the United States for certain…