Trial and Detention of Juvenile Offenders
Juvenile delinquency is a main issue that raises concern in the society, the nation and the media. There are various reasons as to why juveniles commit offenses. For instance, it can be due to stress disorders, peer pressure or even drug and alcohol abuse. There are high possibilities that if not well rectified, juvenile offenders become criminals in their adult age. Juvenile offenders have been detained in juvenile jails and tried in juvenile courts. However, juvenile offense raises mixed reactions among people. For instance, there are arguments that juvenile offenders are criminals and thus should find the same treatment with other adult criminals. Other arguments are that they should be detained separately and instead offered counseling so as to change them and make them more responsible of their behaviors.
Arguments for the detention of juveniles with adult criminals and trying them in adult courts cite that a criminal act has the same end regardless of the person committing the crime and thus every person should be held responsible for the actions that they take. Further, they argue that once kids are given light sentences, they do not learn the lessons that they are supposed to and that once they are given harsh sentences just like other adult criminals, this will deter them from committing criminal acts again.
Today, kids are highly sophisticated even at very young ages. They therefore have full understanding of the effects of violence and further, they are learning the use of violent weapons early in their life. It is in the news each day how crimes are affecting people and thus as the argument is, every modern child understands well what crime is for example killing. The child will exactly know the implications of what they are doing as they commit a crime. No one can argue that a child who knows how to load and further shoot using a gun does not know that killing is wrong.
However, detaining children in adult jails leads to more harm than the benefits it is thought to bring. Since they are at a young age, what juvenile offenders require most is rehabilitation but not punishment. According to Siegel & Welsh (2007) juvenile justice system was created because of the evolution that young people undergo which in certain cases can render them offensive. Thus, it is important that young offenders be held as well as tried in different courts from the adult criminals so as to offer them guidance and counseling and thus rehabilitate them.
Adult prisons are “schools of crime” (Siegel, 2009). It is in these jails that the juvenile is exposed to experienced criminals and there are high chances that they may turn out in the same way. Here they are trained by their adult counterparts on how the use of dangerous weapons, as well as how to be violent. Further, there are various risks that the kids are exposed. Adult prisons are known to be centers of both physical and sexual assaults. Siegel (2009) reported that among the statistics of sexual violence in jails, juvenile violence is above 20%. This then causes stress and frustrations to these kids and there are high chances of them becoming suicidal other than if they were tried following the juvenile justice system.
Juvenile offenders who are tried as adults suffer victimization. This is because following the adult system of justice; chances are very high that they will serve longer sentences. This is in comparison with those tried as juveniles and for similar offenses. Young people need to access education so as to help them nurture their careers and thus become productive people in the future. However, when they are held in prisons meant for adult criminals, they miss the opportunities to access this education. They will also miss out on counseling and mentoring processing that are meant for the transformation of juvenile offenders.
Many of the juvenile offenses are not accompanied by violence. This then gives the young offenders bad feeling about their lives. For instance, Dwayne Betts who was convicted with adults following a carjacking says “I see no reason to send a 15-year-old to prison to be with grown men who have learned to live and breathe violence” (Allen, 2009) This being a personal experience shows the suffering that young offenders suffer in the hands of adult criminals. The culprit further says that he could have gone through rehabilitation by other ways. It is proof that young offenders appreciate the rehabilitation that they go through when detained according to the juvenile justice system.
Detaining juveniles in juvenile jails helps to determine the causes of their behaviors (Warr, 1998). It might be that they did it because of peer pressure or even force. The pressure may have forced them to commit the offense so as to fit into a certain group of people. Therefore, what such a kid requires is counseling to help them be able to make personal choices and not follow group decisions. It might have been the children have grown up in abusive families or even families which are dominated by drug addicts and criminal parents. Thus, they did not get the right upbringing. Such instances make kids follow the behavior of their parents or guardians. Furthermore, they do not have any role models to emulate. This then forces them to indulge in crime and they need to be rehabilitated and not punished since it is the environment that has contributed greatly towards their depicted behaviors.
The competence of the offender to stand the trial should also be put into consideration. It is in the court process that the competence to stand trial should be determined before sentencing is done. Some of the cases that are considered in this process are issues of age and mental stability. Many of the convicted kids may be mentally stable but they do not have the competence that is sufficient enough to stand trial in adult courts (Laub, 2007). For instance, they may not be aware of or even have the capability to understand the legal process. Thus, this renders them incapable of defending themselves adequately. It is the right of each convict to defend themselves and trying kids in adult courts denies them this right.
The presumption in the justice system for adults is that the guilty are solely responsible for their actions and thus the necessary punishment should be given. This culpability is determined by judgment and this constitutes ones ability to control their impulses, stand pressure and be able to foresee the consequences and also get out from situations that are risky. Few kids if any are able to show such judgment. Though the kids are fully aware of what differentiates right and wrong, they do not possess the intellectual capability that is needed so as to hold them completely accountable for the acts that they do in some conditions.
Reports gave shown that full brain development is achieved at the age of 21 years. This is the development of the prefrontal lobe which has a key role in reducing unruly behavior. Therefore, juvenile offenders may not be fully aware of the acts that they carry out since their brains have not reached full development. Since the moral as well as the cognitive capacities of young people are not fully developed, they need to be tried differently. The law should therefore take into consideration the maturity as well as psychological development of these kids.
It is not only the kids who will suffer once they have been charged as adult criminals but the society at large. From these “schools of crime,” kids will turn out to be hard core criminals. Thus, the society that they will live in once they have left the jails will be threatened and live in fear. Siegel & Welsh (2007) cited that detaining kids together with adult criminals enhances the likelihood of these kids recommitting offenses. The threat is not just recommitting offenses but engaging in even serious and violent offenses. Furthermore, they have gotten used to being detained and the hardships that are faced by adult criminal detainees.
Once the older generation has retired from work, it is the young people who will be expected to take over. There is therefore the need to nurture them so that they can become productive people and that the society will benefit from them. Due to the enhanced likelihoods of missing education, counseling and committing suicide, the society suffers greatly. This is because people who would have become productive if rehabilitation was effected are lost. Further, it results to high dependency. The frustrations that they suffer in adult prisons and courts can lead to them becoming less or not innovative at all and thereby becoming wholly dependent on other people.
There are cases in which the child offender can be waived into the adult criminal system of justice. This is a decision that is usually made by the judge and in regard to the interests of the public. For instance, if under the circumstances of the crime, the public is threatened for example where there is use of violence or the juvenile was armed. Repeatedly committing offenses can also be considered in the waiver process which implies that rehabilitation has failed and thus what is required is serious trial and punishment.
In conclusion, juvenile offenders should be tried in juvenile courts and detained in juvenile jails unless the kid is a threat to the society. This is because as kids, they need to be guided and counseled and thus the best way would be in juvenile jails where they will get the necessary rehabilitation. The society should understand that they are still in the stages of development and thus it is not possible to hold them fully responsible and accountable for their acts. Parents should also ensure that they bring up their kids well to reduce the cases of these juvenile offenses. This way, the society will save on productive people.
Works cited
Allen, M. (2009). Should we treat juvenile offenders as adults? Retrieved on May 4, 2011 from: http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/216362.
Laub, J.H. (2007). Should juvenile offenders be tried as adults? Retrieved on May 4, 2011 from:
http://lethal-injection-florida.blogspot.com/2007/08/should-juvenile-offenders-be-tried-as.html.
Siegel, L.J. & Welsh, B.C. (2007). Juvenile delinquency: The core. 3rd Ed. Wadsworth Publishing.
Siegel, L.J. (2009). Introduction to Criminal Justice. 12th Ed. USA: Cengage Learning.
Warr, M. 1998. Life-course Transitions and Desistance from Crime. Criminology. Volume 36, p. 183-215.
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