Juvenile Crime: Are Children Adult Enough?

Juvenile Crime: Are Children Adult Enough?

Juveniles are responsible for about eighty percent of the murders in the United States.

"The juvenile arrest rate for violent crimes rose 62 percent between 1988 and 1994, and the

state laws have increased the transfers of jurisdiction over juvenile defendants from juvenile

court to adult court" (Steiner & Wright, 2006). There are two goals that the criminal court

accomplishes when they transfer a juvenile offender. The two goals of the criminal court are it

places juveniles who are beyond rehabilitation into the adult criminal justice system, and it

serves as a mechanism for deterring future juvenile crimes. Studies have shown that harsher

punishments for juveniles do not necessarily result in lower crime rates when they complete their

sentence, and trying children as adults is doing more harm than good. Juvenile waiver

provisions have a tremendous impact on a young person's life because they may face a life or

death sentence, incarceration in prison, and permanent criminal record. Juveniles who go

through the juvenile justice system, on the other hand, generally must be released by the age of

18, receive rehabilitative treatment in a juvenile facility, and may be permitted to have their

juvenile record expunged.

By labeling these juveniles that are waived into adult criminal court as convicts instead of

juvenile delinquents, it can seriously impair the child's future aspects, such as college and

employment. This labeling is the cause for higher recidivism rates among these youthful

offenders. Due to the lack of opportunities available to them, since they have little to no chance

of going to college or getting a job, they will continue with their crime. This labeling theory

creates a social problem. These children who are labeled convicts become repressed through

prejudice. Colleges do not want convicts attending their schools and employers do not want

convicts working for them. Also children that are trying to be delinquent to get more attention

are getting exactly what they are looking for by being waived into adult criminal court.

One of the ideas behind creating the juvenile court system was that children were unlike

adults, they can be easily helped if they were turning delinquent. Children in the juvenile court

would not be found guilty and be considered convicts like adults, they were be adjudicated

delinquent and helped to get back on to the right path. These adjudicated children would not be

branded convicts and would not be considered part of the criminal justice system, they would

have no criminal record. However, not all children would get this opportunity for help once

courts started using the juvenile justice waiver to waive serious juvenile offenses and other

juvenile offenders that were found to be seriously delinquent into adult criminal court. "In the

past, transfer determinations focused on whether juveniles could be rehabilitated; today, the

amenability to rehabilitation is mostly a secondary concern because courts primarily focus on the

potential risk of dangerousness" (Parry, 2009).

The neurological development that is most critical to make good judgments, moral and

ethical decision making, and controlling impulsive behavior is not complete during the

adolescence stage. It is a fact that substantial differences exist between adults and children.

Children as you as 13, have found themselves subject to severe penalties in the adult criminal

justice system. Juveniles are deficient in their understanding of their rights, the trial process, and

are incompetent in making sound decisions, which makes juveniles more vulnerable in the adult

court system. "As the empirical evidence indicates, deficiencies in psychosocial maturity among

juveniles are caused by their impulsivity, reliance on peer acceptance, lack of autonomy, and

poor judgment in relation to future consequences" (Sellers &Arrigo, 2009). Philosophies shared

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