Juvenile Justice System: Trying Minors as Adults

A teenager, girl or boy, manages to get his or her hands on a gun and shoots another person who has been annoying them. These teens should be sentenced for such a hideous crime, without hesitation With crimes like these being committed without putting thought into it, should have them receive some sort of punishment. However, how should these juveniles be penalized, through Juvenile Court Systems or Criminal Courts? Studies have shown that juvenile delinquency had a higher rate during the beginning of the 1990s. In showing research the age of the individual should not be a determining point rather than the crime they have committed. Why adolescents should not be tried as adults? Adolescents should not be tried in a criminal court system because adolescents have no sense of what will be going on. Nowadays adolescents commit more serious crimes than they did before. The nature of the crime, different categories of crimes, and brutality involved are what results with them being tried as adults and penalized as adults. In the work 'Should Juveniles be Tried as Adults Essay,' we will talk about justice for teens.

There is a major problem when it comes to the determination of the crime being taken care of in a juvenile or criminal court, being age. When dealing with any juveniles and crime age usually is the most discussed portion of the dispute. What age does a child have to be to commit a crime? The shared law, which all laws in the united states initiated, states that a child could not commit a crime if the defense was able to demonstrate an initial stage? For many years children were considered more property than identified as a person. It was legal for a father to take the life of their children if they did something unacceptable. With time going on and on, things have changed as well as our lives. At what age does a child demonstrate a difference between diminished responsibility and immoral decision? Children nowadays have thoroughgoing socially due to the available technology such as television, video games, and movies. Children believe that when they executed someone because the individual did not comprehend a gun with bullets had the ability to harm someone, well that no longer exists. Adults are held accountable for mistakes they make like children do yet they are not held responsible even though they do the same or similar things as those adults. In every 8state legislation addressed this matter. For example, The State of Arizona has no age limit for transferring youth to criminal court. What Arizona uses as a diversity of provisions in order to deal with juvenile delinquency.

“In the juvenile justice system, offenders who are still minors are usually tried in a separate court reserved for minors.” This is regarding any crime the individual(s) have committed. Possible crimes such as the nature of the crime, a clear understanding of the consequences, and a past history of similar crimes. Many of the juveniles that committed such hideous crimes go by saying, being a minor there is no way I can be tried as an adult. Well, now there are factors that consider how and where the individual will be tried in, either in a juvenile court or in a criminal court. “Some juveniles commit crimes so horrific in their depravity that justice could not be carried out in the juvenile system.” With a separation of different court systems, generalized for juveniles and adults. In the juvenile court system, the youth is given a higher opportunity to think through what has happened with the chances of forgiveness, unlike in the Criminal court. Criminal courts do not give the opportunity to offer the individual forgiveness with similar cases the youth has committed. Sure maybe the youth is given the opportunity at redemption, but institutionalization is not a permanent solution to the social problems in America. The first laws for juveniles were created to help with the problem of shoplifting, along with vandalism, which compare to what is being done nowadays they are not very helpful. Rehabilitation has not been an effective thing for the youth. The family members of rape, murder victims, and victims of other serious crimes have had no support whatsoever in any shape way, or form. Families can also feel as if they were not paying any attention to when it came to the case of the victim in their family. “ Most people agree with Sterling Burnett of the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas: The only way to treat the victim as a full human being-to fully honor the memory of the victim is to punish the perpetrator. …” 

Any youth, or adolescent, who goes through the juvenile court system, almost immediately is labeled as a delinquent. The word or label delinquent can fall under two different things: Criminal actions that are continuous by an adult or an adolescent, then there is also the category where juveniles only can commit, status offenses. Any of these status offenses can be any of the following but are not limited to: absences, running from home, and or time limit violations. The crimes in which a juvenile should be transferred to a criminal court system, are illegal acts such as rape, homicide, burglary, and so on. So far juveniles are tried in juvenile court for committing these delinquencies. In some legislations, once a youth complies to commit a felony, they are required to be transferred. There are now crimes that could of been committed before and they were not considered a crime, they have mostly been seen as a laugh between two people, a prank almost. For instance, if a youth, took some other person’s vehicle without the owner knowing it was seen as a joke for all that people saw. Today if a teen is to pull the same act of taking someone’s personal vehicle without permission it is considered theft.

A teen found an armed weapon and started to play around with it, the magazine belonging to the gun was detached, yet the individual was clueless that the gun was still loaded. With that being said the teen pointed the gun at his friend and killed the friend. This individual case took place in a juvenile court and the teen was sentenced to one year in prison. Yet, the diversity of a youth firing a weapon in a drive-by and this are very different. Question yourself is the level of the crime is different because the violence is still on the same level. What takes the cases to the criminal court of the too is the urge of wanting to actually do it and not the type of violence. Generalizing this it goes back to the issue of age and the knowledge of comprehending the grave nature of the crime. Adolescents should start being held responsible for crimes they are committing with violence even if they do not know what they are doing.

“ Usually, juvenile cases that are subject to waiver involve more serious crimes or minors who have been in trouble before.” Repeating of crimes can also get the youth to be tried as an adult and not only for violent crimes. Juveniles who have tried rehabilitation in the past and another crime is committed the juveniles then transferred to be tried as an adult in the criminal court system. Sure the traditional rule for trying a juvenile in a juvenile court is for the youth to be under 18 years of age.

The way a criminal is seen can vary from state to state. Crimes such as rape, killing, theft, and intensified assault are just roundabouts of the crimes. In a felony crime, a juvenile can obtain one year if not more in jail. The amount of violent crimes has decreased yet the amount of violent crimes happening is still horrifying. The Federal Bureau of Investigations is the ones in charge for crime statistics. These natures of crimes are what relocated and assign juvenile court cases to the criminal court cases. The statistics over the years have shown drastic drops in aggravated assault, theft, motor vehicle burglary, manslaughter, violent crimes, and aggressive sexual assault.

Could there be a connection in penalties received by criminals and the decline in some crimes. “There are three ways that transfer proceedings can usually begin—the most common is through the prosecutor's request. But the juvenile court judge can also initiate transfer proceedings. And some state laws require that juveniles be tried as adults in certain types of cases, like homicide.” (Michon) A major factor that tends to affect the decisions a judge takes to have juveniles to be tried in a criminal court.

There are certain circumstances where a juvenile should not be tried as an adult. Many times it can be due to the age of the juveniles that are being tried, which is when any of the individuals are tried being under the age of 18 years of age. It can be helpful for the juveniles to be tried in a juvenile court because they are given the chance to be led in the right direction. “Adult criminal justice system does not deter repeat offenses by juveniles under 18.” Let us say that if a juvenile is tried an adult criminal court and it is done to help repeat the crime, statistics show that about 34 percent of the juveniles that were tried as adults, have gone through a re-arrest and even at a faster rate. Sure it is not a large percentage of juveniles but for it to show as an efficient method the percentage of re-arrest should be lower and at a slower rate along with the seriousness of the crime. Yet, some states manage to place 17- year old teens in adult criminal court for any type of offense even if it is as simple as traffic-related offenses.

The age of a juvenile to into thought when it came to determining whether or not they are able to constrain a felony crime. As time flies we can see that this is no longer the case. Juveniles believe that people will believe them when they say they did not know what was going on even if they totally knew what it was that was going on. Juvenile delinquents should be tried in a criminal court which is a more agile punishment. The factors that are now getting juveniles in the criminal system are the crime level itself and the no longer irresponsible actions that the youth has done. Juveniles knowing and not knowing that their actions are activities outside of juvenile crimes should receive the same course of action for punishment as any other adult. Going back will not help treat those juveniles and will not end the rate at which these crimes are committed.

Concluding that either criminal court is best or juvenile court is best there will not be 0 percent crime if we cannot do something within these systems. Any juvenile who decides or unintentionally commits and or takes part in any criminal act should be penalized as an adult. Many of the cases I have followed up on have mentioned that the juvenile was tried as an adult for committing rape, and or murder. Rape and murder have been shown to be the leading crimes that juveniles tend to commit that get them to be tried in a criminal court. Guns have been utilized to get juveniles tried as an adult because they decide to play with a gun they did not know was loaded and killed someone or they killed another person because the other individual has been bothering the juvenile that is charged. Juveniles are old enough to know that any if these crimes lead to no good and still decide to commit them. At a certain point, a person can tell right from wrong yet choose to do what seems easiest which later comes back with consequences and gets the juvenile to be tried in the Adult Criminal court System, and no longer in the Juvenile court system. Many of these juveniles choose to do the wrong thing and pay the consequences and wish they could go back and not have done what they did.