JUVENILES BEING TRIED AS ADULTS

Juveniles being tried as adults

Juveniles being tried as adults

Introduction Nowadays, the question about whether juveniles should be tried as adults in adult courts rises to a significantly controversial issue. The main reason for this controversy is that some researches have showed that the way juveniles think is different from the way adults' think, which means teenagers between 16-18 are not fully matured. However, other people argue that locking up the juveniles in adult prison has made the society safer. Nevertheless, there are enough evidences proving that juveniles in adult prisons are more vulnerable to suffer prison abuses, which may cause them having severe mental disorders. In addition, the lack of educational services in adult prisons accelerates the developing of mental orders.

Discussion

Although it is true that historically adolescents were seen as generally the same as adults, there were early signs of understanding that perhaps different treatment was required with youth. In particular this was true of criminal justice. The London Bridewell of 1555 is considered the first institution designed to control young beggars and vagrants.” In the mid-1800s, obvious examples of progressive attitudes and disciplinary approaches toward youth emerged. These approaches emphasized the distinctions between children and adults and the need for care and nurture of young people. The nineteenth century is considered the “century of childhood.” Children were perceived as being different from as and more innocent than adults.” This assisted in ushering in philosophies that valued juveniles as a separate entity, with different needs than adults.

There have been many positive changes within the justice system in the United States in the modern era. The 1899 Illinois Juvenile Court Act helped in the formation of juvenile courts nationwide and served to act as a rehabilitative rather than punitive model. The juvenile court idea spread across the country. In 1925 it had been adopted by 46 states, 3 territories, and the District of Columbia. 2005. The programs, once drafted and approved, would receive federal funding. Six years later, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 would replace the previous act. The new act created professional entities and sought to separate youths and adults in an attempt towards rehabilitation. Since juveniles are more immature than adults, therefore they are more vulnerable to suffer prison abuses in adult prisons. In article “Jailing Juveniles”, the author points out that the adolescents are likely to receive severe and cruel abuses, both physical and sexual assaults from adults (“jailing”, 2008, p127). In adult prisons, juveniles are easy to be assaulted because they are much weaker than other adults and can not always be separated from those adults. When jailors separate the juveniles from adult population, they get locked up 23 hours per day without seeing natural light, which causes a high suicide rate. An article in “New York Times” writes that the 11-year-old boy was kept in an only 10-by-8-foot cell in the booking area (“Pennsylvania: Boy Faces Adult Charges”, 2010, ...