The Handling of Juvenile Delinquency

           The complications of juvenile delinquency cases have caused a social issue in the United States. When juveniles are charged as adults and go to prison, they are negatively affected by their experiences. They have the urge to sell drugs to make money and end up in jail again. There should be more restraints on the verdicts in the juvenile justice system and more things done to prevent the crimes because juvenile delinquents are being treated too unfairly.

            Mental disorders, moral panics, family environment, peer pressure, labeling, and strain are all causes of juvenile delinquency. Gangs and gang violence have also been major sources of delinquency. They have caused patterns of delinquency in the poverty-level neighborhoods in the city. Internationally, the rate of delinquency cases are higher in the more technologically and economically advanced countries. Teenagers that are emotionally ill with disorganized family situations have a higher chance of delinquency (‘juvenile delinquency”).   According to Brenda and Charles Griffin, “unstable families, drug abuse, failure of school, violence in the mass media, and the weakening of religious bonds all have had popular support as explanations for delinquency.” There are a lot of causes of teenagers in prison, and they have become life-threatening cases. For these cases, they are being charged as adults and sent to the criminal justice system.

There are too many juveniles being charged as adults in the justice system. Most states debate whether to charge teenagers as adults because of the offenses they have committed. Society states that people under the age of seventeen are unable to drink, smoke, or join the military, so they should not be treated as an adult for a crime (Update: Juvenile Justice). Stahl mentions that, “the judge can waive jurisdiction on the juvenile, so he or she can be tried as an adult in criminal court.” Juveniles should not be going to jail with adults.

            Juvenile delinquents are being negatively impacted from jail and need to leave with the confidence and reassurance that they can succeed. Teens are better off going through the juvenile justice system than going through an adult prison. They have a higher chance to be psychologically damaged if they go to an adult prison. Juveniles that have attended adult detention centers are the ones that stay criminals for the rest of their lives (Update: Juvenile Justice).  It is shown by the conduct of the ones that have been released. In Update: Juvenile Justice, critics argue that, “Juveniles can be more greatly influenced by certain factors, such as abuse, than adults can, and their treatment by the law should reflect that.” There are many alternatives to making the juvenile justice system more effective. One of the ideas is teen courts.

            Teen courts are courts which use teenagers to serve as jurors. Some people argue that there should not be teen courts, and the verdict of a crime should be left to a professional's decision. They also think teen courts are pointless because teenagers are too naive to know how to administer the law (“Teen Courts”).  In reality, there should be more teen courts because they are an additional way to solve juvenile crimes.  Teen courts are for nonviolent crimes, and teenagers have the chance to tell the offenders why their crimes were wrong.

If a juvenile has committed an extremely bad crime, he or she should get the appropriate consequences. The death penalty is used when the offender deserves it, and the juvenile is tried as an adult, depending on the crime. Juveniles should not be in the criminal justice system when they are too young for it, even though it has proven to cause a drop in juvenile crime. Additionally, attorneys argue that executing a teenager violates the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution (Update: Juvenile Justice). Juveniles in the adult criminal justice system will stay as offenders for the rest of their lives.

When juveniles are out of jail, people should help them get treatment, so they will live a controlled life. The best way for parents to make sure their children don’t turn into a delinquent is by preventing the causes of it. To prevent juvenile delinquency, parents should have their children join programs and become involved in their community at an early age. Helping children avoid becoming delinquents will ensure that they will not be treated unfairly.

 

http://rolemodels.jou.ufl.edu/rolemodels/studentissues/juvcrime.shtm

Works Cited

Griffin, Brenda S., and Charles T. Griffin. "Juvenile Delinquency." Encyclopedia Americana.      

        2010. Grolier Online. 27 Sept. 2010.

"Juvenile Delinquency." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com.     

        Web. 3 Oct. 2010

Stahl, Anne L. "Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Courts, 2004." OJJDP FACT SHEET. Feb. 2008:            

        1-2. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 24 Sep 2010.

"Teen Courts." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File       

        News Services, 10 Mar. 2006. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.        

Update: Juvenile Justice. Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File

        News Services, 14 Dec. 2006. Web. 20 Sept. 2010.