The harshness of punishment in such cases appears to be disproportional to the crime. Indeed, Macallair states that the system was originally implemented to target the "worst of the worst." This does not appear to be the case in reality.
A further problem specific to Florida entails the disproportionate representation of race in cases transferred to the adult court system. According to Macallair's report, African-American youths are 2.3 times more likely than their white counterparts to be transferred to the adult court system.
A consequence of the disproportionate manner of punishment and racial representation, is the prison system and its effect on juvenile offenders. According to several reports, including those of Macallair (2000), Schiraldi, and Griffin, the danger that young people face in adult prisons is more extreme than that faced by normal adults. The vulnerability of a young person often makes him or her the victim of violence in adult prisons. The effect of this in turn is, ironically, not rehabilitation, but an increased tendency towards violence and further crime. Indeed, this affects not only those actually convicted, but also the youths awaiting trial for crimes from which they may be exonerated.
The current system is such that many different kinds of crimes and youths are tried and convicted through the same system. More youths are transferred to adult court systems than should be, and authorities in whose care these youths are placed are not sufficiently schooled in education to adequately help rehabilitating these youth. Indeed, available statistics show that this system is in fact hopeless in such a mission. While it has little effect in terms of deterring other youth from committing similar crimes, the recidivism rate of current youthful criminals...
In principle, the United States should follow international treaties only if it is a signatory to that specific treaty. However, the Supreme Court of the United States cannot ignore international standards completely either. There are several reasons for this. The world is becoming more and more globalized. Large numbers of immigrants have flocked to the United States in the last several decades and likewise American military and the FBI increasingly
Ideally, diversion should take place at the earliest stages of juvenile justice processing, to refer a youth to essential services and avert further involvement in the system. On the other hand, diversion mechanisms can be put into place at later stages of justice processing, to avoid further penetration into the system and expensive out-of-home placements. Efforts to keep youth out of the juvenile justice system who otherwise would be processed
Juvenile Justice System currently faces a number of challenges in dealing with delinquency. Many of those problems are underlying problems such as mental health issues, child abuse, child neglect, lack of funding, and the disconnection between professions dealing with children, all of which contribute to delinquency. The high incidence of child abuse and child neglect, in particularly, have been directly linked to delinquency and must be sufficiently addressed. In the
Juvenile Justice The Juvenile Criminal Justice System Juvenile courts and detention separate from adult courts is a relatively new concept (ABA, 2010). Before the turn of the twentieth century, the cases for individuals of all ages were managed by the same criminal and civil courts, and the same sentences were handed out to all parties. Of course, this has changed to a great extent since 1899 in the United States, but there
This Act was more focused on preventing juvenile delinquency and separating the juveniles from the adults in the correction facilities. It was argued that the juveniles learnt even worse crimes and became more radical criminals if detained together with the adult offenders. This was more pronounced during the 'Progressive Era' with proponents like Morrison Swift suggesting that the juvenile delinquents only benefited to learn more criminal tactics from the
Essentially, the authors focus on keeping the separate juvenile court active within the context of American states. Therefore, Scott & Steinberg (2008) are not proposing the abolition of the juvenile court entirely, like what Feld (1998) is proposing. Scott & Steinberg (2008) believe rather that the adult system would be unable to provide any additional benefits beyond what is provided through the juvenile courts. Keeping up with a separate system
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now