Impact on Society of Juveniles Tried as Adults

CASES WHERE JUVENILES ARE TRIED AS ADULTS

The impact on the court system should be minimal if juvenile offenders of serious crimes are tried adults in the criminal court system, rather than in juvenile court. The transformation of the juvenile court has evolved to a point where there is little difference between the procedures of juvenile court and criminal court.

The juvenile system was designed in the late 1950s to rehabilitate youngsters who became "a bit wayward." That type of juvenile offender has all but disappeared and in its place has evolved a sophisticated, violent youngster who has little regard for human life.

The differences in the procedures and sanctions of the juvenile court system and the criminal court system is discussed below, with a discussion of the benefits and advantages of trying serious offenders who are teenagers as adults.

The Second Section which follows discusses the differences between processing juveniles in the juvenile system and in processing adults in criminal courts.

The Third Section addresses the differences in the outcome and sentencing of minors and adults.

The Fourth Section considers the differences in the court procedures, criteria and rules applied to minors and to adults.

The Fifth Section compares the use of alternatives to incarceration between juveniles and adults.

The Sixth and Seventh Sections examine, respectively, the benefits and disadvantage

. . .
ve serious implications for the criminal court system.14 Even though some commentators object to imposing the harsh sanctions of adult criminal courts on minors, there will be less subjective tailoring of sanctions and possibly more objective sentencing in treating serious offenders in criminal courts rather than juvenile courts. "Despite formal statutes and procedural rules, the 'individualized justice' of juvenile courts is substantively and procedurally lawless. To the extent that judges individualize decisions in offenders' best interests, judicial discretion is formally unrestricted. Individualization treats similarly situated offenders differently on the basis of personal characteristics and imposes unequal sanctions on invidious bases. Closed, informal, confidential proceedings reduce visibility and accountability and preclude external checks on coercive intervention.15 Despite the lack of guarantees that offenders would be treated more equally in criminal court, at least the more visible proceedings would safeguard more of the offender's constitutional and procedural rights. V. Comparison of Use of Alternatives to incarceration between Juveniles and Juveniles Tried as Adults Some commentators believe that "prevention
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Youth Authority, Tried Adults, Conclusion Proponents, Daily Journal, Waiver Judicial, Deterrence Eliminating, ADULTS Introduction, Justice Lucas, Hearings Fitness, Crime Delinquency, juvenile court, criminal court, los angeles, angeles daily journal, los angeles daily, angeles daily, daily journal, fitness hearings, tried adults, juvenile offenders, crime delinquency, serious crimes, 12 november 1991, serious juvenile offenders, juveniles tried adults,
Approximate Word count = 3524
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Impact on Society of Juveniles Tried as Adults