Adult-Incarceration

When early people commit crimes, there ar usu whollyy reasons nooky their behavior and these reasons need to be addressed with look at and thoughtfulness and not the severest form of punishment. During the 1990s, several states decided to try novels as modern as 17 grades old as expectants, and to intent large(p)-incarceration facilities for those who were convicted. I call up that was a negative trend.Young people have a disperse happening inside their bodies and minds, this is not to excuse them however its a fact. A lot of inseparable changes ar taking maneuver and by that I mean, hormonal changes, bodily changes and mood swings.Apart from major internal physical changes taking place, they also have to deal with peer squelch and behave in a certain room so that they fail in with their friends idea of organism cool and normal.Researches and studies on the modern mind-set show that teens send to bighearted move result in being worse than those who atomic n umber 18 not. They have a tendency to get in to trouble to a greater extent often and the offenses be much(prenominal) severe. (Patrick, 2005)An Example of the uprightness Being Too HarshReginald Dwayne Betts was executed at the age of 16 and spent more than eight days in prison, in Virginia for an build up carjacking. He was an honors student who had never been in trouble with the police beforehand he thought he would either be sent to a new-made detention center or in an extreme fictional character would receive a suspended sentence. But astonishingly, he was attempt and true as an adult and was originally sentenced to 23 years of immurement. (Sharon, 2007)Locked up at the young and tender age of 16, Betts spent 8 years in adult prisons. At much(prenominal) a young and impressionable age, he wasnt prepared to deal with the horrors and harsh realities of an adult prison. He was quite conquerable to the happenings around him both physically and emotionally.It was hard for him to get used to being away from home and at the same time to deal with the closing off and stress that comes from being in an adult prison.To acquit matters worse, violence stalk him day and night he witnessed other prisoners having their heads split open and getting stabbed. He was exposed to disturbing conditions at a rattling young age whereas most people would never have to face much(prenominal) incidents in their entire life.Even though Betts served 8 years in prison, he now has a fulfilling career as a writer but he knows that he is an exception and he believes that youngsters who end up in prison normally dont make it as thriving human beings.Another example of a juvenile being attempt is Zack, who was recently released after serving 27 months for being entangled in the robbery of an Oregon convenience store. His spawn says Zack (then 15) was struggling with a bipolar ail at that time. At present, hes 17 and although his school was hesitating to welcome hi m back, he is once again a student there.His mother says that Zack will always be a wicked in the look of the friendship and he still finds it hard to put the past behind him and it was exceptionally hard for him to find work as a lot of people did not want anything to do with him.Zacks mother admits that he deserved punishment but probation and counseling would have been better for him sooner than serving time in jail (Sharon, 2007)Why Passing Harsher Laws Against upstarts Is Wrong?An precondition made by legislators in passing harsher laws in order to make it easier to try juveniles as adults, has been that juveniles would be less likely to become involved in criminal behavior if there were tough laws and hence a message would be sent to offenders that crime would not be tolerated. (Brian, 2006)Though, look has proven this assumption wrong. Numerous prominent studies have proved that juveniles tried as adults tend to engage in criminal activities more often, more quickly and more seriously than those tried as juveniles.Fagan (1996) looked at the lapse to criminal activities rate of eight hundred juveniles. The 15 to 16 year olds were convicted of set-back degree robbery, second degree robbery or first degree burglary. Half of the cases came from two counties in New York and the other fractional(a) were from two counties in New tee shirt. (Brian, 2006)Due to New Yorks Juvenile Offender Law, all the New York based cases were automatically handled by the criminal court, whereas New Jersey based cases were handled by the juvenile court. A analogy of the cases of both states showed that there were significant differences found in the re-arrest grade of those convicted of robbery.A high number of robbers from New York were rearrested as compared to the robbers from New Jersey. Furthermore, robbers from New York who were sentenced to incarceration in a criminal court tended to re-offend considerably sooner than those from New Jersey who were sentence d to incarceration in juvenile court.A search, Podkopacz & Feld (1996) carried out a comparison of recidivism rates for offenders from Hennepin County, Minnesota that had had their cases referred for possible transfer to criminal court from 1986 to 1992. They finding outs were that those offenders who were tried as adults had a considerably higher recidivism rate (58 %) than those offenders who were tried in a juvenile court (42 percent). (Brian, 2006)Therefore, this shows that if juveniles are convicted as adults and face adult punishments, then they feel alienated from the parliamentary law and their connection with the community everywhere all weakens and this leads them to relapse to criminal activities once they have served their time in prison Also possible juveniles tried as adults are more likely to view criminal court talks as unsportsmanlike and unjust and hence they relapse to criminal activities to rebel or punish the unfairness.Researches have also found that thos e tried as juveniles generally had a positive view of the juvenile court. They were happy with the overall treatment of the settle towards them since they sincerely divulgemed to care about their well being.In addition, the majority of the people interviewed for the research saw the juvenile court legal proceeding as fair and lone(prenominal) a very few saw the juvenile court proceeding as unjust.Majority of the offenders who were tried for the criminal court believed that the judges they faced didnt seem to care much about them nor about their problems.They complained that the court proceedings were formal and rushed and quite a lot of them reported difficultness in get a lineing the legal terminology that was used in the court proceedings. Many that were tried for the criminal court thought that the criminal courts process sent a strong message that the offenders were of very little importance.Research has also shown that juveniles held in adult prisons were one and a half t imes as likely to be assaulted with a weapon and quintuplet times more likely to be sexually assaulted as compared to the inmates held in juvenile facilities.An earlier research by Flaherty (1980) showed that the suicide rate of juveniles held in adult jails was 7.7 times higher than the suicide rate of juveniles held in juvenile detention centers and if you compare it with the normal youth population than its 4.6 times higher. (Brian, 2006)Effective ways of Dealing with Juvenile OffendersTo combat juvenile crimes/offences, judges and courts need to understand what provoked the juveniles to commit such offences in the first place.The best way to deal with them is gently and in order to improve their over all behavior gentler punishments should be given and not harsh, adult punishments, as the juveniles are in the process of catching up and arent full handsome adults hence they need to be dealt with gently but firmly to rid of their wrong habits for once and all.Judges like Mich ael Corriero, who is based in New York, are well aware of how adult treatment of juvenile offences affects most of the juveniles. He supervises a special court by the name of Manhattan Youth while and resolves cases of juveniles that belong to the ages 13-15 and have been tried as adults for serious crimes. He tries to steer as many as possible away from the criminal court. (Sharon 2007)According to his ideology, a youths character is flexible. Kids in their early teens (13-15) are mantic to learn from their mistakes. If we lock them up, what will they become in 10 years time? They wont possess any special skills. And naught can be expected of kids that have been put in to adult prisons therefore have been criminalized before their time.65% of the cases he handles are either sent for counseling or other such alternative programs, most of those programs are private and if the kids succeed, their records are sealed. Only the kids that commit major offences are tried in criminal cou rts (Sharon 2007)Although these treatment programs are very expensive, but they are worth every penny as if you pass up a juvenile in a juvenile justice program then the society will have less adult criminals.Therefore its essential to see what kind of crimes or mistakes the youth are committing and to treat them accordingly. In cases such as fry shoplifting or joy riding the juvenile should be counseled and should not be given the same punishment as an adult. Since the youth may have committed that particular crime due(p) to immense peer pressure.Although juvenile crimes make most of us think of gangs, rape and murder violent teens are the exception. Whereas in reality, according to diverse studies, violent teens only makeup 5% of all juvenile arrests.The more common reasons for prosecuting juveniles in adult courts are drugs, burglary, theft, taking cars for joy rouse (Sharon Cohen, N.D. http//www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-12-01-tryingkids_N.htm).Being in an adult jail in creases a childs risk of exposure of being exposed to sexual abuse and assault. Educational opportunities are usually very limited and inadequate.Juveniles that Commit Major OffencesThe other side of the vulnerability is that some prosecutors argue about kids that are too unplayful to be considered juveniles as if tried as a juvenile, they maybe freed of all sorts of charges and imprisonment as soon as they turn 21. (Sharon 2007)An example of such dangerous juveniles will be Matthew Niedere and Clayton tramp, who murdered Niederes parents in cold blood.The murder was aforethought(ip) carefully by the 17 year olds. Niederes father was press stud five times and his mother four times by him. Keister shot Patricia Niedere, when she ran outside the family store, calling out for suspensor. The two 17 years olds were prosecuted as adults and rightly so. In such extreme cases, where youth nearing matureness have committed cold blooded murders, they should be punished severely. (Sharo n 2007)ConclusionTo conclude, Id like to say that juveniles for mild and petty crimes should not be prosecuted as adults. As in the case of being convicted, they suffer from worthless conditions, horrendous health care to inappropriate lock-ups and very few efforts to help them (youth) re-enter society.Furthermore they are exposed to sexual abuse and forced to grow up before their time and may face psychological problems subsequently on their life, due to exposure to brutal activities such as stabbings, or even murders taking place in the prisons.Once these juveniles serve their time in the jail and are released, its also hard for them to re-enter the society and be acceptable by the rest of the society. They would always have that smidgen attached with them that they once committed a crime and went to prison for it.Therefore for minor crimes, its better to have them counseled or to assign them certain hours of community service, as their minds and personalities are still being s haped and hence its better to correct them by allowing them to ponder over their mistakes and to make them serve the society by community service in order to have them realize their mistakes.ReferencesBrian E. Oliver, Does difficult Juveniles as Adults Work? An Analysis of the Evidence, June 2006 http//www.aicharleston.com/JuvenileJustice1.htm Accessed jar against 14, 2008Juvenile crime statistics, http//www.onlinelawyersource.com/criminal_law/juvenile/statistics.html Accessed March 14, 2008 Juvenile justice system,http//education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2142/Juvenile-Justice-System-JUVENILE-CRIME-VIOLENCE.html Accessed March 14, 2008Patrick Boyle (2005). Articles Section of Perspectives on Youth, http//www.perspectivesonyouth.org/Pages-Archive/CurEditionsPerspectives-Summer-Fall2005.htm Accessed March 14, 2008Sharon Cohen (2007). Prosecuting kids as adults Some states ponder changeshttp//www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-12-01-tryingkids_N.htm Accessed March 14, 2008