Juveniles that are sentenced as adults
Juveniles that are sentenced as adults
Juveniles that are sentenced as adults
A juvenile is young person who has not yet attained an age where he or she can be considered an adult. Juveniles when in trouble with the law should in theory be tried in a juvenile court but in practice many though not the majority are tried in adult courts. (Torber, P et al 1996)
They might also end up in adult correctional facilities rather than juvenile facilities. There are several reasons why this can happen. In the USA, the following make up the major reasons.
Judicial Waiver
In the judicial waiver, juvenile court judges have the authority to have the case of the juvenile tried in an adult court. (Florida Department of Juvenile Justice 2006)
Direct File
If prosecutors find it fit, they can use their discretion to have the case of the juvenile tried in an adult court. (Mobilizing Communities To Prevent Juvenile Crime. 1997)
Mandatory Waiver
In the case of certain offenses, age or prior record of the offender, the juvenile court judge can decide to have the case of the juvenile tried in an adult court. (Torber, P et al 1996)
Statutory exclusion
If the age of the juvenile or alleged crime is that which is to suggest a trial at the adult court, this will be known as the statutory exclusion.
Age of Majority Statutes
16 and 17 year olds are automatically tried as adults in Connecticut and New York while 17 year olds are prosecuted in Wisconsin, Texas, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Missouri, Michigan Massachusetts, Louisiana, Illinois and Georgia. (Fagan, M. Frost and T.S. Vivona 1989)
Once an adult/always an adult
This is a special transfer category for juveniles that have been tried as adults before and are being tried again following another offence. This category has been provided for 31 States. In California though and Delaware, the juvenile is put through a criminal court in a fitness hearing by the juvenile court following a subsequent charge. This will take place even though the juvenile faced a guilty or not guilty charge. Provided the juvenile went through an adult juvenile system.(www.scholastic.com)Three states, Michigan, Texas and Minnesota will not charge juvenile offenders in criminal courts if they were not accused of felonies in the first and California will not charge in a criminal court of the subsequent offence does not waiver to be a adult case. Consequently California and Iowa limit the once an adult/always an adult statue to 16 year olds. The State of Oregon is the only one that has left the once an adult/always an adult decision to its juvenile courts.
Juveniles and the death penalty
‘Cruel and unusual punishment’ was the term used to refer to the death sentence of a 15 year old boy after he was found guilty of active participation in murdering his brother-in-law. This was on the basis that he had the mental capacity to understand his actions. It was on the ground of the Eight Amendment of the Constitution that they found it cruel according to ‘evolving standards of decency’. To determine this, comparisons were made with various states and countries. There was reluctance to apply the evolving standards into the constitutional law as it did not express the national consensus. (Mobilizing Communities To Prevent Juvenile Crime. 1997)The question lingers whether juvenile’s culpability is reduced. Three major differences have been identified between under adults and juveniles under the age of 18. First, it cannot be argued that adults are less responsible than youth who show a lack of maturity and poor responsibility when compared to them. It is not surprising that they make poor decisions. This weakens the death penalty because it does not make sense to make a harsh judgment on person in not very culpable. Secondly, the youth are prone to ill-influences and pressure from their peers and have a harder time taking control of their environment. This too weakens the capital punishment on juveniles since they cannot tell the impact of their actions prior to doing it. Finally, a juvenile’s character is not formed and they struggle to define who they are and it can be argued that even a heinous crime should not be evidence of an evil character. This though did not go without questioning and that persons under 18 are not mature enough to make sound decisions. Such decisions as having an abortion by a juvenile were an example. It was also noted that generalizations should not be made especially by the majority but rather to be left to a jury who assess each defendant on an individual basis. That there is a big difference in engaging in risky or anti-social activities and deciding to commit murder. That they are at least sometimes able to make sound decisions as adults do.
Significant facts and findings
Research has been done on the youth who have been incarcerated in adult facilities and the following findings have been found. More than 100,000 under 18’s are incarcerated every day. In this number of juveniles, 14,500 are held up in adult facilities. 44 States in hold juveniles in adult jails and prisons but 18 of this have some units set aside for juveniles. The number of juveniles going to jails has increased while the prisons have not changed therefore are insufficient to hold the juveniles. Of this number, 51% of the youth offenders spent in dormitories while 49% did so in single and double cells, a majority of them in double cells.
Studies have even gone to show that there are actually more juveniles going to prisons than previously estimated. Of the juveniles that are tried and given a legal status, only 21% are held as adjudicated juvenile offenders while the remaining 75 are sentenced as adults. Most of these juveniles are black. The youths also happen to be of an age of 17 making up the majority of 79 % and 16 that make up 18%. Still even more needs to be done on health, education and counseling since programs are only seen to be put up in cases with most difficult to manage juveniles. (Florida Department of Juvenile Justice 2006)
The rise in juvenile cases
Cases in juvenile is increasing. An increase in the trend of locking up juveniles has been noted by a few figures like Eric Solomon, spokesman for the Campaign for Youth Justice. Justice Policy Institute has shown that youth are going adult facilities for committing crimes that are not violent. It is also calling for the end of reliance on jails and prison to counter criminal activities. 70 percent of all the youth tried in California in the year 2003 got a prison sentences. (Fagan, M. Frost and T.S. Vivona 1989)
Long term consequences of being tried as an adult
Being tried as an adult is not good for the your and it has several negative consequences on their side. When that happens, they have to be subject to the decision of the criminal court for any offenses they commit following the first one. (www.scholastic.com) As well as doing time and serving a sentence it might prove a traumatizing to the juvenile, esteem and self insecurity. A conviction for the crime committed is treated as a public record and this will surely affect the juvenile’s future especially in relations to such matters as jobs and harder punishments for crimes done. During application for jobs, the job seeker who has been tried as an adult will have to report their conviction to the prospective employee which will in most cases greatly reduce their chances of getting the job and cause stigmatization. Another negative effect is that which the youth will is not legible to vote and in some cases for a life time. Finally, such juveniles that have been tried as adults cannot serve in the army. It not only takes a way of making a living but will make one feel left out.
What can be done?
Correctional administrators could use different methods to deal with the problems to do with managing juvenile law breakers in adult correctional facilities and proper programming to deal with their unique needs. (http://www.americanbar.org)Several recommendations can be made. The following recommendations have also been offered for further research.
1. Classification Systems
The methods used traditionally for adult correctional populations have not incorporated the special needs and issues of maturity for this juvenile offenders. They should be looked into especially on matters protective custody, administrative segregation, mental health and medical care units. Also in designation of minimum, medium, close, or maximum custody. (www.americanbar.org)
2. Staff and staff training
Better training should be done on adult security staff so as to handle juveniles better.
3. Programming
Specialized programming is recommended.
4. Education
Education that is structured, thorough and intensive should be provided to the juveniles.
5. Behavior Management techniques
Better approaches need to be used to manage offender and less use of military models.
6. Housing Strategies
Housing that will better manage the population is what is needed.
7. Continued Research
More research is required because of how new the issue is.
References
Torbet, P., Gable, R., Hurst, H., Montgomery, I., Szymanski, L., and Thomas, D. 1996. State Responses to Serious and Violent Juvenile Crime. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Mobilizing Communities To Prevent Juvenile Crime. 1997, NCJ 165928 (8 pp.).
Fagan, M. Frost and T.S. Vivona, Juvenile and Family Court, No. 2, 1989.
Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. A DJJ Success Story: Trends In Transfer of Juveniles to Adult Criminal Court.08 Jan. 2002. 05 Oct. 2006. pg.2 .http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/publiced/features/DYJpart2.authcheckdam.pdf
http://www.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/j/Juveniles_Tried_as_Adults_Up_170_Percent.pdf
