It can often be forgotten in society that adults are not the only individuals who commit heinous crimes or sent to court and given sentences that include life in prison without the possibility of parole. Murder, armed robbery, sexual assault, these crimes being executed by not only adults, but juveniles under the age of 18. Throughout history, juvenile justice has remained an issue and the debate on whether juveniles should be tried as adults. In America, each state possesses their own laws in which they determine how a juvenile should be tried and whether they should be transferred into an adult court. During the 1990’s the rise of juvenile justice came into full swing, and the term “superpredators” was used to describe the youth as “dangerous” …show more content…
The seriousness of a crime plays a major factor in whether a juvenile is tried as an adult. Murder, armed robbery, and sexual assault are normally felonies that fall under the category of heinous crimes significant enough to transfer juveniles into adult courts. Certain laws can also effect how a young person is tried, especially when it comes to the Felony Murder Doctrine. This legal doctrine broadens the range of people who can be convicted during a crime, and in several cases has allowed juveniles to be convicted and given the same sentence as an adult. Similar to the Felony Murder Doctrine, different states set up certain laws that make it easier to prosecute children as adults. California is one of the states that passed Proposition 21, designed to create harsher restrictions for anyone under the age of 18. Juveniles cases, after Proposition 21 was passed, allowed more children to be transferred into adults courts and given harsher sentences. The juvenile justice system has changed drastically over the years and remains a serious topic. Whether an individual’s opinion is for or against the juvenile justice system, the truth of the matter is, it is completely possible for young people to be tried and sentenced as adults, every case is viewed and treated
The concept of a “carrier” first emerged with typhoid fever with Mary Mallon in 1907. Mary Mallon was a working as a cook in her employer’s household, Charles Henry Warren, in New York. Working as a cook allow the bacteria, Salmonella typhi, to be transmitted to the household members through the food she was handling. George Sober, a sanitary engineer, was brought in to find the cause of illness and had proposed that it was the ingestion of freshwater clams. This was later disproven by the questioning of the infected individuals having denied they had eaten the clams. Sober then moved his suspicions onto Mary Mallon, believing she was spreading the disease as a carrier. This was a new concept at the time and was not readily accepted, especially
Around the whole world, children are committing crimes and thinking it is okay to do these sort of things, because they are learning from the people around them or family members having to commit crimes to keep the family well provided. Children wouldn’t be doing these crimes if they didn’t have such a bad environment around them. If a juvenile acts like an adult and does adult crimes, then they should be tried as adults. For example, stealing a car that wasn’t yours and starting a high speed chase. That’s an adult crime, but sometimes we shouldn’t just throw juveniles in jail.
The human brain is not fully developed until you are in your mid-20s. Should people be tried as an adult for crimes they committed as juveniles, before they were even 18 years of age? Jose, only 15 year olds at the time of the crime, had a difficult life, grew up in a rough neighborhood, and was eventually arrested and brought to court for murder after participating in a deadly brawl. The first major turning point for juvenile legal rights occurred in 1966, in the case Kent v. United States, where the Supreme Court decided that a juvenile cannot be waived to adult court without first being given due process, which includes a hearing, assistance of counsel, and a statement of reasons. Another major milestone for juvenile legal rights was in 1967, in the
Any individual below the age of 18 can be termed as a child. However, any child above the age of 14 at the time of the crime can be tried as an adult. This age can even be lower and differs among states. For instance, the youngest ever recorded successful trial as an adult was of a 12-year-old (Alexford, 2015). Almost every such case starts in a juvenile court with a felony accusation. The court must direct hearings and make
Throughout the last couple decades, it has been easier for children who commit crimes to be tried as adults in court. Since 1987, the juvenile crime rate has been at its all time low. However, there are still many cases where children are committing crimes despite their age. It has been known that the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who participate in murder can not be sentenced to life in prison because it is essentially injustice for the child. If the child were to be sentenced to life in prison, the child would have been tried as an adult.
There are many cases where juveniles have gotten their life ruined because they are convicted as being an adult. Juveniles should not be tried as adults no matter how severe the crime might appear,if and only if they did not plan the murder. There are many factors that drive a juvenile to commit a crime which they did not intend or plan. A teenager’s background is one of the major reasons why they behave erratically. The example they receive from their guardians at home has a major impactor effect as to how they think and act.
People feel that the American justice system constructs upon holding perpetrators accountable for their actions. Most states in America believe by setting harsh sentences that this will act as a deterrent to other juveniles who are considering committing crimes. There may be some veracity to trying juveniles as adults. The juvenile arrest rate reported by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention shows that, “The juvenile Violent Crime Index arrest rate increased in the mid-2000s, and then declined through 2012 to its lowest level since at least 1980. The rate in 2012 was 38% below its 1980 level and 63% below the peak year of 1994. In 2012, there were 182 arrests for Violent Crime Index offenses for every 100,000 youth between 10 and 17 years of age. If each of these arrests involved a different juvenile, which is unlikely, then no more than 1 in every 544 person’s ages 10-17 was arrested for a Violent Crime Index offense in 2012, or less than one-fifth of 1% of all juveniles ages 10 to 17 living in the states.” This rating shows that by trying juveniles as adults has coincided considerably with the lowering rate of juvenile
If juveniles should be tried as an adult has always been the most important and popular topic of the justice system. Many juveniles are using their age as a shield, thinking they can’t get charged with capital punishment (death penalty). Though there have been many laws made for juveniles concerning the age they could be tried as an adult in capital cases. I do think that that juveniles should be held responsible for all the crimes they have committed, no matter how small the crimes committed are, there should not be an age limit in any capital offenses. What age does one start handling responsibilities?
Teens being tried in the adult court system is becoming more common today. The Juvenile court system was first established in 1899 for teens to be treated through police, court, and correctional involvement instead of punishment. It was handling juvenile offenders based on their youth rather than their crime. Eventually, that all changed when teens were starting to commit more heinous crimes such as robbery and homicide. For fear that these juveniles would be a harm to society, many states such as Georgia, Michigan, and Texas have now made it easier for certain teens to be tried as adults (Tipton 2017).
Crimes are most associated with adults. Murder is especially most associated with adults. When a teenager commits such a crime such as murder they must be tried, and they should not be treated with leniency and coddling, but with the full force of the law as an adult.
Juveniles can be tried as adults for crimes ranging from kidnapping, murder, rape, arson, robbery, torture, assault, and more. Some of the cases that are sent to adult court are petty crimes, such as: underage drinking, possession of a controlled substance, and other minor crimes. The question is whether they should be tried as adults. These are all adult actions, on one hand, and may lead a person to wonder what brought a child to commit these crimes. One might further inspect that if a child or teenager is engaged in so-called “adult” activities, what kind of activities might a child choose to be involved in adulthood? What is the child’s background? Can you blame the child of a heroin addict for having access to drugs at a young age? Can you blame the child of a murderer for acting out? Yes, everyone has a choice even a child.
There are many similarities and differences between the adult and juvenile justice systems. Although juvenile crimes have increased in violence and intensity in the last decade, there is still enough difference between the two legal proceedings, and the behaviors themselves, to keep the systems separated. There is room for changes in each structure. However, we cannot treat/punish juvenile offenders the way we do adult offenders, and vice versa. This much we know. So we have to find a way to merge between the two. And, let’s face it; our juveniles are more important to us in the justice system. They are the group at they
Through history many can see how empires grew and became successful. Many empires were so successful because of their leaders and their philosophies. Empires often had good runs and would be running successful until a stronger and more powerful empire would bring them down. One empire that was known as the most advanced both socially and politically in the western civilization was the Roman Empire. At about 285 CE the empire was so greatly advanced that the Roman central government could no longer rule the empire on its own. The Roman Empire had its really high point but eventually around 400 CE the empire fell.
The juvenile justice system was founded on the belief that children are different from adults; therefore, the justice system and corrections sanctions for juveniles should acknowledge the differences. “Rising juvenile crime rates during the 1970s and 1980s spurred state legislatures across the country to exclude or transfer a significant share of offenders under the age of eighteen to the jurisdiction of the criminal court” (Fagan, 2008). The acknowledgement of these differences should be the bases for a proper juvenile justice system. The examination of the juvenile justice’s systems history, trends, and causation theories will provide an insight into the future of the juvenile justice system.
The nation’s first juvenile court was established in 1899 as a part of the Juvenile Court Act. It was founded on three principles: juveniles are not ready to be held accountable for their actions, are not yet fully developed, and can rehabilitate easier than adults. In all but three states, anyone charged with committing a criminal act before his or her eighteenth birthday is considered a juvenile offender. Now more than ever, states and countries have begun to question the reliability of the juvenile court. Some believe the juvenile court system should be abolished because of its insufficient gain to the community. Others believe children are not fully capable to understand the degree of their actions and the consequences that come from them and believe that juvenile courts are a necessity in the court system.