Discussion Board Responses

I need help with a Law question. All explanations and answers will be used to help me learn.

1- The juvenile justice system has always been notorious for attempting to try juveniles as adults. Juvenile offenders should only be tried as adults depending on the crime and the circumstance, like murder, rape, and robbery. These are the more serious crimes where juveniles should be tried as adults, versus non-violent crimes such as misdemeanor offenses. According to Miner-Romanoff (2014), somewhere in the range of 1992 and 1999, 49 states altered their juvenile laws by extending sorts of crimes, for example, violent crimes, that would accommodate juvenile offenders to be attempted as adults in adult criminal courts. Some states expanded the offenses that commanded a move to the adult court, restricted legal discretion, and extended the number of offenses legally prohibited from the juvenile courts. For instance, 35 states made or extended laws for a programmed move to adult court; 27 states broadened legal waiver laws that allowed a move to adult court, with bringing down the age requirements and expansion of qualifications; and 13 states marked into law new possible waiver arrangments. All states presently have arrangements for trying certain juveniles (subject to the seriousness of the crime) as adults in criminal court. Under legal waiver arrangements, the juvenile court judge can postpone juvenile court jurisdiction and move the case to criminal court. A sum of 21 states and the District of Columbia have in any event one arrangement for moving juveniles to criminal court, with no base age determined. Present corrective patterns continue deferring large amounts of juveniles to adult court, and the cost continues to develop; results incorporate expanded underestimated societies, diminished social spending in mellow territories, and expanded crime (Miner-Romanoff, 2014).

Reference

Miner-Romanoff, K. (2014). Juvenile Offenders Tried as Adults: What They Know and Implications for Practitioners. Northern Kentucky Law Review, 41(2), 205.

2- In the 1970s, a shift was observed in the criminal justice system, as more policies that were retributive in nature were being passed to include the establishment of determinate sentences, which not only affected the adult sentencing system but also the juvenile one, as the number of minors being prosecuted as adults increased (Silva, 2014). Roughly 250,000 juveniles in the United States, are prosecuted and sentenced as adults each year (Silva, 2014). I believe that some juveniles should be tried as adults, depending on the type of crime they committed. Violent crimes such as murder (any type to include manslaughter), rape, aggravated assault that resulted in serious injury, robbery that involved the use of a weapon in order to intimidate and kidnapping are some charges that deemed a juvenile be sentenced as an adult in my opinion. In 2005, the supreme court case of Roper V. Simmons argued that there exists a psychosocial and biological difference between adults and minors (Silva, 2014). Juveniles lack maturity due to their lack of knowing what responsibility is, they can easily fall for peer pressure, and overall, their lack of character development (Silva, 2014). With these concepts in mind, regarding a difference between an adult and juvenile who might commit the same crime, the juvenile should not be give the same conviction as the adult but be allowed to have a lesser sentence in my opinion. Rehabilitation should be the goal, as it has been observed that minors are more susceptible to making behavioral changes (Silva, 2014).

Silva, L. R. (2014). The Best Interest Is the Child: A Historical Philosophy for Modern Issues. BYU

Journal of Public Law, 28(2), 415–470.

3- I feel that juveniles should be tried as adults only for forcible felonies. Other than that, I do not believe trialing them as adults should be needed. The initial purpose of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate juvenile offenders and protect children from maltreatment (BERRYESSA,2020). By giving harsh treatments to these juveniles will likely increase the reoccurrence of them offending again. We need to provide treatment to juveniles that commit crimes to show them the bigger picture instead of improper solutions such as adult sentencing. In rare cases such as murders I believe that serious intervention is needed for that specific child which is why adult sentencing is permissible in those cases. A lot of the crimes that juveniles will commit in their adolescence stage will be quick impulse decisions. If society can educate this juvenile on how serious the consequence of their action could be then you will see a result in correcting the negative behavior. In all I believe that juvenile offenders should be only tried as adults for forcible felonies.

Reference:

BERRYESSA ,COLLEEN M., & REEVES JILLIAN. (2020). The Perceptions of Juvenile Judges Regarding Adolescent Development in Evaluating Juvenile Competency. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), 110(3), 551.

4- Answer: Do you believe that “life without the possibility of parole” is an appropriate sentencing option for juveniles? Why or why not?