Juvenile Justice Policy



Abstract

Juvenile Delinquency is a controversial subject due to the policy concerns and issues. The history of juvenile delinquency and trials has a long history. However, one of the issues of juvenile delinquency is the extent of severity of the crime. This issue leads to the concerns of the policy, which needs to be addressed by the Congress.

Juvenile Justice Policy

Introduction

Juvenile crime is highly active in the United States as compared to the adult crime. People, who have taken the path of crime at a young age, are difficult to correct and re-educate and tend to constitute a reserve for an adult crime. In the US, the concept of juvenile delinquency is associated with the totality of crimes committed by persons under the age of 14 to 18 years.

Discussion

History of Policy

A milestone in the history of the juvenile justice system begins in 1967 when the Supreme Court of the United States decided the case "Gault" and granted new rights to adolescents convicted in juvenile courts. Gerald Gault, age 15, is accused of having called her neighbor to make him an obscene statement. The juvenile judge sentenced him to prison until his 21st birthday (Roberts, 2004). In his judgment, the minor could not be represented by counsel or to appeal the decision, or even be notified of the charges against him. The scandal was also immediate resounding advocacy groups for human rights protest against barriers to minors' rights and against the discretion left to the juvenile court may set aside any adolescent behavior contrary to public policy. Since then, the Supreme Court thus, recognizes the child tried before a juvenile court is entitled to know the charges against him, to be represented by counsel, or to remain silent.

Reflection on the Juvenile Policy

In 2001, Lionel Tate was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his little neighbor. He was 12 at the time. According to the prosecutor, the crime was not warrant due to his young age and he could be tried as an adult. His trial was not an error of course, or a delusion of American justice, but rather a reflection of the juvenile justice system in the United States. For ten years, the number of teenagers tried as adults in the United States is steadily increasing. Prosecutors using and abusing their powers, journalists covering excessive juvenile delinquency, progressive intellectuals fighting for recognition of children's rights identical to those of adults. Legislators are worried about the high cost of prisons for teenagers, which have played a role, sometimes despite themselves, in dismantling the juvenile justice system (Howard, 2003).

Since 1992, forty-nine states have revised their legislation in order to assess a larger number of children as adults. The most violent juveniles appear before an adult court, which is also called "criminal court". They are more heavily punished and held in prisons. Between 1985 and 1997, the number of adolescents incarcerated in adult penitentiary doubled. In some states, like Vermont and Kansas, the minimum age to be tried as adults in cases of ...