Why Do Juveniles Be Used As Informants

The judicial system has been using confidential informants from the beginning of time. A confidential informant is person under the direction of a specific police officer giving information or other lawful assistance on criminal activity, they take parts in investigations and/or receive compensation. () There are some pros and cons as to why juveniles should be used as informants. There are some reasons why police would use juveniles as informants. One of the main reasons is that when the narcotics units is interested in a drug dealer, they always go for the “mules” or the people that are doing the drug runs, which is usually a juvenile. Sometimes using juvenile informants are the only means of intelligence of gathering information into
a world where only individuals of minor or juvenile age is trusted. They arrest the juvenile on maybe possession with intent to sell, and instead of the juvenile going to jail; they offer them the chance to work with them in order for them to build a case against the main person of interest. If the juvenile helps the police out, they can receive little or no time for their case. That is an upside of being an informant, because it gives you a chance to start over. When a juvenile is used the police knows that they are getting correct information, due to the fact that most youth do not want to jail, and it gives them a chance to stay out of the judicial system. Using a juvenile is great when you are looking to stop underage drinking or the sale of tobacco products. Using a juvenile is really the only way to receive the information that you need. You could always use an informant that look as though they were underage, but in order to be able to charge a suspect and have the charges stick, they would have to provide alcohol or the tobacco product to someone that is actually underage. When you are using the informant in that capacity is less danger or risk because normally they are being used at places that sells alcohol and tobacco products. In the streets confidential informants are called “snitches.” Snitches are frowned upon, especially in the back community.
There is a saying that “snitches gets stiches,” that is also used. Anytime you use any confidential informant; no matter the age, there is always a chance for retaliation, on that person. Safety before, during and after are some concerns that an informant has to think about before agreeing to participate. The main question of is it worth the risk? The risk of not only putting their own lives in danger, but the lives of the people that they love the most. Especially if they are going to be an informant against a heavy drug dealer that could be dangerous, and could retaliate against the informant. It is really sad because most of the time the retaliation also involves innocent family members. It was a case in California where the police had used a juvenile informant, and the drug dealers found out about it and had him killed. The police say that he had only participated in one supervised deal, but was released as an informant because he was caught selling drugs again for the second time. The family was upset because they felt that the police did not do everything that they said they would do to protect the identity of the informant. A downside of using a juvenile informant is the reliability of testimony provided by the teen or juvenile informant because most are pressed into informant service because of their existing criminal history or arrest
records. Non-existing Federal or State laws or regulations governing the use of teen or juvenile informants which allow the mismanagement of these informants could be an issue. Not everyone in the judicial system feels that it is okay to use juveniles as confidential informants. Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Foundation in Washington says, “the essence of being an undercover operative is to win the trust of someone in order to betray it, what it teaches is to become a betrayer, to become a seducer, to become a traitor to the trust of other people, is certainly a bad thing to teach young people.” He has a great point because if we are teaching them to be deceitful, how do we know if they are strong enough not to continue in the same state of mine. Are they going to be giving some type of help or rehabilitation to teach the difference between what they did for the judicial system oppose to them being deceitful for a criminal gain? No matter what side you are on, using a juvenile as an informant can be good or bad. There ae questions that needs to be asked. Is the liabilities worth the risk? Is using a juvenile informant the only way we can get the information that we need? Can we trust the juvenile with making a better decision after being used? You have to decide if the greater good worth the risk.