Posted: June 17th, 2015

Issue or challenge juveniles are faced with when serving time with adult criminals

Topic: The challenges juveniles are faced with when serving time with adult criminals

PURPOSE: To elaborate the various problems juvenile offenders are faced with when serving prison sentences in adult facilities.

  1. Introduction
    1. The fear of escalating juvenile crime prompted the Congress to introduce the waiver laws in 1996.
    2. The laws were mainly aimed at transferring and punishing young offenders in adult justice systems.
    3. Critics are opposed to these laws because they do more harm to young prisoners.
    4. The objective of this paper is to provide information on changes in the juvenile justice system and analyze the challenges the youths face in adult jails.
  2. Juvenile justice system is unique from the adult justice system.
  3. Historically, the juvenile justice system is distinct from adult systems
  4. The first system formed in Chicago explicitly dealt with children affairs
  5. Its aim was to promote the formation of a separate juvenile justice system that could promote child rehabilitation and reformation.
  • The juvenile system handles two offenses: delinquency and status offenses.
  1. If committed by adults, these two offenses result in criminal prosecution.
  2. The principle of child crimes is developmentally different from grownups.
  3. Children are more open to behavior rehabilitation than prosecution.
  4. The juvenile justice process addresses the problems and needs of children
  • Child justice system concentrates less on punishment and more on helping the child rehabilitate to minimize the risk of future criminal behavior.
  1. The fear by the Congress about child crime undermines juvenile justice system.
  2. In the last decade, fear of juvenile crime has weakened the basic concepts of why juvenile justice system was founded.
  3. The federal government and state legislatures have turned progressively to the more retributory adult models.
  • Today, even pre-teen children in some instances are treated as adults and thought to be conscious of their crimes.
  • Juvenile face array of problems in adult prisons
  1. Juveniles who receive custodial sentences in the criminal court usually serve their sentences in adult prisons and jails.
  2. More than 6,500 juveniles were held in adult prisons either tried or awaiting trial as adults.
  3. The National Corrections Reporting Program data report that juveniles account for 5,600 (7%) of new court commitments to state adult justice prisons.
  • Of 25,620 youth under the age of 19 serving sentences in adult prisons, 2,484 are under age 16.
  1. Children in adult correctional facilities suffer higher rates of physical, sexual abuse and suicide than those held in juvenile detention centers.
  2. 7.7 times more likely to commit suicide
  3. 5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted
  • Twice as likely to be beaten by staff
  1. 50% more likely to be attacked with a weapon.
  2. Children in adult facilities do not receive education or other services appropriate to their needs.
  3. In many states juveniles are treated the same as adults and are provided the same health, educational and recreational services.
  4. Few adult correctional agencies provide special programming developed for this age group.
  • Most states do not provide special staff training on handling juvenile offenders.
  1. The situation for girls is particularly troublesome as there are so few of them in prisons, therefore little likelihood to get special services.
  2. Being tried as an adult may have long-term consequences
  3. Juveniles convicted in criminal court may suffer other long-term legal consequences.
  4. Juveniles are subject to criminal court jurisdiction for any subsequent offense committed as a juvenile
  5. Have their conviction a matter of public record
  • Have to report their conviction in employment applications
  1. Lose the right to vote, sometimes for life
  2. Lose the right to serve in the military.
  3. Prosecuting Juveniles as Adults Undermines Justice
  4. At arrest, children appear to contradict themselves over time and may be discredited before a judge or a jury.
  5. At bail or bond hearings the questions asked in adult court to set bond are not appropriate for children.
  • At probable cause and preliminary hearings children are penalized by their inability to prioritize facts and information.
  1. In preparing for trial: children have difficulty remembering names and addresses, and sorting out facts.
  2. At trial, children make terrible witnesses as they are prey to cross examination.
  3. In plea negotiations: children have marginal competency to understand many aspects of the court system.
  4. Prosecuting Juveniles as Adults Undermines Public Safety
  5. Juveniles coming out of the adult system are more likely to reoffend, or to commit more subsequent offenses.
  6. Youths transferred to adult court are more likely to be convicted and incarcerated but their recidivism rates are high.
  • Juveniles whose cases originated in criminal court are more likely to reoffend than those in juvenile courts.
  1. Conclusion

The move to send juvenile offenders into adult prisons in unjust and inappropriate. This move disadvantages the children to short-term and long-term damaging consequences and does little to reduce public crimes.

 

 

 

 

References

Arya, N. (2007). Campaign for Youth Justice. Jailing Juveniles: The Dangers ofIncarcerating Youth in Adult Jails in America. Washington, D.C.

Barry, C. F. (1998). Juvenile and Criminal Justice Systems’ Responses to Youth Violence. Crime, Justice and Youth Violence, 24, 189-261.

Bishop, D. (2000). Juvenile Offenders in the Adult Criminal Justice System. Crime and Justice, 27(3), 81-167 .

Bishop, D. M., Frazier, C. E., & Henretta, J. C. (2009). Prosecutorial Waiver: Case Study of a Questionable Reform. Crime and Delinquency, 35, 179-201.

Loughran, T., Mulve, E. P., Carol, A. S., Laurie, A. C., Laurence, S., Alex, R. P., . . . Sandy, L. (2010). Differential Effects of Adult Court Transfer on Juvenile Offender Recidivism. Law and Human Behavior, 34(6), 476-488.

Preston, E., & Scott, R. (2013). Juvenile Justice: A Social, Historical, and Legal Perspective. New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Schubert, C. A., E. P., Thomas, A. L., Jeffrey, F., Chassin, L. A., Piquero, A. R., . . . Elizabeth, C. (2010). Predicting Outcomes for Youth Transferred to Adult Court. Law and Human Behavior , 34(6), 462-475.

Steiner, B., & Wright, E. (2007). Assessing the Relative Effects of State Direct File Waiver Laws on Violent Juvenile Crime: Deterrence or Irrelevance? The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 96(5), 1451-1477.

van Vleet, R. K. (1999). The Attack on Juvenile Justice: Will the Juvenile Court System Survive? . Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 564, 203-214.

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