Juvenile Justice 4
"Gunmen open fire at Denver area high school." "5 dead, 11 wounded in Arkansas school shooting." "Pennsylvania students cope with shooting spree." "1 killed, 25 wounded in Oregon school shooting." Headlines such as these, while shocking, have become almost commonplace in America today. In a society in which movies, video games, and even music are saturated with violence, youth are turning on both each other and adults with increasing deadliness. Much of the public favors adult sentences for juveniles charged with serious violent crimes. The rate of serious crime among children and youth has begun to rise despite increasingly harsher sentences for juvenile offenders. At the present rate of incarceration, one out of every twenty children born in 1997 will spend time behind bars. For males the figure is one in eleven, and one in four African-American males will spend time in prison at some point in their lives. Clearly, the court system is unable to deal sufficiently with cases such as the aforementioned. How will this nation curb this alarming trend? While the real key is prevention, much can be done once a crime has been committed. Neither the adult nor the juvenile court system is properly equipped to deal with v
First, a new juvenile justice system based on a collection of specialty courts would allow individualized supervision and flexible, creative sentences. The original juvenile justice system was created to do just that. The system in place today has strayed from such ideals. Across the nation many specialty courts are emerging. Drug courts, gun courts, teen courts, community-based courts, and many others offer an excellent starting point for developing a new system of courts for young offenders. These courts would allow trials to occur in a more timely fashion. Sentencing options would focus on rehabilitation and giving back to the community. The results of such experimental courts are extremely encouraging. Community-based intervention, when carefully designed and monitored, is more effective at preventing recidivism than traditional detention and costs less according to several evaluators including the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. iolent juveniles. Former US Attorney General William P. Barr says the increase in violent offenses "clearly show that we must enact wholesale reform of the juvenile-justice system so that, for the vast majority of juvenile offenders, their first brush with the law is their last." Juveniles who commit violent crimes need a combination of rehabilitation and punishment. Rather than
Some common words found in the essay are:
William Barr, , Crime Delinquency, Center Community, San Francisco, court system, juvenile justice system, juvenile court system, juvenile offenders, juvenile court, violent youth, specialty courts, system based, justice system, juvenile justice, justice system based, violent crimes, prison system,
Approximate Word count = 903
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
