Juvenile Court System example essay topic

Rita Kramer's " Juvenile Justice Is Delinquent", a very well written argument, explains how juvenile delinquents have changed, and are getting away now with almost everything they do without a severe punishment. Kramer writes clearly to make the reader understand her essay. Kramer writes that the Juvenile system is very similar to New York's Family Court. The New York Family Court was originally sought to protect children who were getting in trouble with the law that still considered them infants, because of their young age. What Kramer is saying is that a teenager that is a criminal would not be tried or treated as an adult because of the teenagers young age. Rita states that the present juvenile court system actually encourages the young delinquent to continue criminal behavior by showing them that they can get away with a crime.

The juvenile court system is very similar to the New York Family Court system which was made to protect children who are usually under the age of 18 who kept on running into trouble with law. It was designed to function as helping parents of juveniles. By protecting those kids who were younger from the age of 18 juveniles always used the system as a game and said", I ain't sixteen yet", they cant do anything to me. If the government then protects them and the juveniles get no punishment, that means that the government is giving them a second chance repeating crimes. In the 1950's juvenile delinquents who were caught doing something illegal were not treated like an adult, because that delinquent was "not criminally responsible... by reason of infancy".

A hearing though would be held but in private to protect the child's identity. But in the 1960's the juvenile court system changed and it gave juveniles who were called " respondents" instead criminals, the rights to have a lawyer represent them. On top of that Milad 2 it also gives protection like the criminal court system gives adults who are responsible to serious penalties if guilty. In paragraph six of Rita's essay she says that the current juvenile system has made it the defendant's lawyers job to protect the young client from any possibility of rehabilitation. That means that the courts now are also protecting rights of juveniles, which makes it even more impossible for prosecutors to convict the defendant.

This then offers the child to get away with no punishment and now thinks that he / she have the right to keep on acting in a misbehaving or unlawful way which had brought him other into juvenile court, knowing that there was no big consequence that would happen to them. If there was any consequences it would be something small like being put in a facility that contains a TV, basketball courts, probably better food and medical service than what was provided at home. If the courts send juveniles to facilities like these, juveniles would keep doing crimes to stay in these facilities. If juveniles have a better life at the facilities than what they have at home, who wouldn't want to go to these facilities. That is where the court is wrong because the court bases the judgment on the persons age not on their crimes, and that does not help the juvenile to be disciplined. In the early 70's the majority of cases in family courts were misdemeanors by children.

Through 1987-91 possession of a loaded gun by a juvenile was growing and schools started to install metal detectors in their school halls. Because juveniles in there act of crime rates have increased. The author says that the juvenile system defines juveniles as children rather than as criminals. Family Courts though turn the most delinquent offender over to the adult system for trial but still they are sentenced as juveniles and serve the maximum sentence in a juvenile detention and are free after that.

Rita uses statistics in her essay to back up her statements for example, Rita writes that there was a sudden increase of twenty-six percent over the past twenty five years on violent crimes by juveniles in the years of 1989-1990. This was to show how much Milad 3 juveniles have been getting involved in crimes such as homicides, robbery, rape, and assault. On top of that she said that eighty percent of constant juvenile offenders of five or more arrests are more likely to go on to adult criminal life styles because of the habits they contained throughout there life. The only possible way to change the lives of juveniles is to make a legislation making the juvenile court hearings open to the public and the press, because juveniles should not be given the right to be protected by the government for destroying the lives of others. Rita also writes that first time offenders should do community service or to do something good for the victims family. For second time offenders who have families they will be responsible for them, and will be well trained under the supervision of a probation officer.

For those who are required to live out of the home it will provide intense schoolwork and job relating skills. Upon also being arrested there should also be a court appearance immediately, and the offender should be sentenced and incarcerated instead of being putin to a facility where there is a TV, basketball courts, and food and having a better life style in jail than what they had outside of jail. These trainings would help these juveniles get their life straight in order to live a life.