Adults who commit crimes should be punished according to the law, but should juveniles be held to the same standard? Arguments exist on this very question and there's a system in place, the Juvenile justice system. This is a network of agencies that handle juveniles that have broken the law. The agencies include Police, Prosecutors, Detention centers, Court, Probation, and the Department of Juvenile Corrections. When a juvenile has committed a crime, there are several factors that need to be determined as to how it will be handled. A fitness hearing will determine how a juvenile will be prosecuted. However, trying youths as adults exposes them to state penitentiaries and harsh sentences. Socioeconomic status appears to be a contributing factor to delinquency. Juveniles may fail to realize long term consequences or how their actions impact others. Albeit, these sound like excuses, but juveniles should be seen as they are; juveniles.
Depending on the severity of the crime, minors could be considered for a fitness hearing.
In "Will My Child Be In Juvenile Court or Adult Court?", by unknown author, the writer states that a juvenile fitness hearing is a hearing before the juvenile court which determines whether a minor will be prosecuted as a juvenile or as an adult. The minor's offense, prior history, sophistication level, and the ability to be rehabilitated are all determining factors. This hearing should not be taken lightly as it will be life changing. If a minor is tried as an adult than this can lead to long or life sentences. In Ken Stier’s article, “Getting the Juvenile-Justice System to Grow Up”, in Time Magazine, he states that every year, some 200,000 minors are tried, sentenced or incarcerated as adults. Then comes readjusting to life outside of prison, which is not an easy task. I compare it to a right handed person learning to write with their left hand. It's the adjustment phase where frustration levels are running high. If prison is all you could remember then it very likely all you'll ever know.
It's likely when analyzing backgrounds of delinquents there's a possibility that exists that some come from a single parent home, poor parent-child relationship and residing in low income(disorganized) neighborhoods.
Socioeconomic status varies by education, income, and place of residence. Sociologists often use socioeconomic status as a means of predicting behavior. In "Risk Factors for Delinquency: An overview" by Michael Shader the author also writes that low family socioeconomic status is a contributing factor to their delinquency.
Parents that are hardly involved, have little supervision on their child and monitoring of young people's activities can cause a poor parent-child relationship. Poor parent-child relationships can also effect a juvenile to become a delinquent. Emotional abuse, sexual abuse and physical abuse are also characteristics that parents can sometimes contribute to their child to misbehave.
Child maltreatment in particular, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and child neglect, presents a specific set of significant risks
Among school-related factors, academic failure has been identified as the strongest risk factor for criminal involvement (Denno, 1990; Browning & Huizinga, 1999). Low bonding to school has been found to relate to both male and female delinquency (Elliott, 1994; Libbey, 2004; Hill, Howell, Hawkins, & Battin-Pearson, 1999).
Zhang and his colleagues (2010) also found high rates of school transitions to be predictors of juvenile delinquency.
Large school systems in low-income, inner-city urban school districts have been shown to be associated with specific risks for truancy (Bridgeland, Dilulio, & Morrison, 2006), as have inconsistent truancy and school discipline policies (Epstein & Sheldon, 2002), weak parent-school engagement, poor student-teacher relationships (Baker, Sigmon, & Nugent, 2001), unstructured classes, and unchallenging homework (Gandy & Schultz, 2007).
Juveniles still need time to develop and mature enough to make sound decisions
maturity level and have a better understanding of right and wrong.
ethic
maturity level to make sound decisions.
Upbrining and neighborhood
poor behavior
social media
Video games, music, and The internet all contribute when dealing with the mind of a minor. Leland Yee, PhD, stated playing video games that are violent in nature by juveniles may contribute to a higher level of aggression, antisocial behavior, and possibly desensitizes to violence.
contribute to crimes
GTA
music
Every single person living in the United States today is affected by juvenile crime. It affects parents, neighbors, teachers, and families. It affects the victims of crime, the perpetrators, and the bystanders.
long term consequences or how their actions impact others.
not being held accountable for their actions.
parents enable and shelter
make excuses and cover up.
how they families are impacted by the arrest
younger siblings follow the same footsteps.
and generational
the minors are 2nd 3rd or even 4th generation offenders and this is all they grew up knowing.
Fagan, Jeffrey. “Adolescents, Maturity, and the Law.” The American Prospect 2005: A5,A5-A7. ABI/INFORM Global. PROQUESTMS. 27 Oct. 2011 <http://search.proquest.com/docview/201148870?accountid=28498>
Poythress, Norman, et al. “The Competence-Related Abilities of Adolescent Defendants in Criminal Court.” Law and human behavior 30.1 (2006): 75,75-92. ABI/INFORM Global. PROQUESTMS. 27 Oct. 2011 <http://search.proquest.com/docview/204147307?accountid=28498>
Stier, Ken. “Times Magazine.” Getting the Juvenile-Justice System to Grow Up. 24 mar 2009: n. page. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1887182,00.html>.
Timmins, Nicholas. “Young Offenders ‘More Likely to Reoffend’ if Treated Like Adult Criminals.” Financial Times Nov 16 2005: 6. ABI/INFORM Global. PROQUESTMS. 27
Oct. 2011 <http://search.proquest.com/docview/249675803?accountid=28498>
Leland Yee, PhD, State Senator (D-CA) wrote in a June 22, 2009 amicus brief filed with the US Supreme Court for Video Software Dealers Association v. Schwarzenegger: