JUVENILE JUSTICE

Juvenile Justice

Juvenile Justice

Background of Juvenile Justice

The juvenile justice system is a special criminal law and criminal law for special young offender who at the time of their action in the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood. During the Revolution, the Penal Code of 1791 sets the age of criminal responsibility to 16. Below is the judge to decide if the minor acted with or without discernment (Cohn & Crim, 2004). It was not until the nineteenth century that created the first special schools for children who then separated from adults: specialized institutions, in charge of agricultural colonies to rehabilitate juveniles through work and Learning, and prison camps and correctional called "prisons for kids" (1850).

Juvenile Justice in the United States has evolved quickly in recent years; despite the popular trend in some states has been the adoption of legislative measures that have resulted an increase in the rate of juvenile transfers to adult courts and / or imprisonment. The perception of juvenile crime as a growing threat to society persists, despite the fact that the crime rate committed by juveniles has been declining steadily since its peak in mid- nineties. According to recent FBI reports, the numbers decreased further by 1.7 percent in 2004. Abolishing the juvenile death penalty at the beginning of last year may have marked a milestone for juvenile justice advocates, but the situation of children in conflict with the law remains a source of serious concern. Since the case, of Roper v. Simmons has been increasingly focusing attention on the plight of children who are serving life without parole. A report published in set in October by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch noted the existence of at least 2.225 children in the United States serving his sentence for first-degree murder, or manslaughter. Ten states have no minimum age for sentencing children to life imprisonment without parole, and some of the juvenile offenders were only 13 when they committed crimes (Bartollas & Miller, 2008). Of the 46 offenders serving life imprisonment without parole in the state of Colorado, many of them had not committed any crime before their sentences, and 21 percent of them were under 16 at the time of arrest.

In the case of Lee Boyd Malvo, the sniper minor arrested for a number of shots in 2002 legislative reform saved him from the death penalty. However, it is serving a life sentence without parole with the additional possibility of being extradited to other states. Although a state has the prerogative to determine own maximum sentence for juvenile offenders, and Malvo was 18 when he was sentenced, his status guild points to the story of his childhood and his long relationship with the brain of John Allen Muhammad action. When the Supreme Court ended the execution of minors, provided that they are categorically more susceptible to external influences and childish behavior, emphasizing the importance of the psychological Low to consider his crime. Possibly the fact a lesser sentence of life imprisonment without parole Conditional ignores what ...