Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

California's Proposition 21: Pros and Cons

Juvenile crime has become one of America's most prominent issues, even as the overall crime rate has declined to the lowest point in decades. Several celebrated cases have helped create an image of teenagers run amok and younger and younger kids committing major felonies. Once apprehended, these children enter a juvenile justice system that many claim utilizes an outdated approach. In some cases, murderers have gone free at age 25 simply because that is the incarceration limit for the juvenile justice system.

In response, an advocacy group placed a get-tough measure (called Proposition 21) on the California ballot. This initiative, which passed overwhelmingly (62 percent to 38 percent), calls for dramatic changes in the juvenile justice system. This paper will examine Proposition 21, highlighting the arguments for and against the initiative, and submit that the initiative ultimately is a fatally flawed attempt to correct a problem that has been greatly overstated.

A juvenile is a young person who has yet to reach the age of majority. In most states, that age is 18, while others set 17 and a handful use 16. The criminal justice system of each state also sets limits on when the adult criminal system can intervene (for California, it is 14). For example, depending on the state, children as young as 10 can be ôwaivedö into the adult system. Meanwhile, most states also set a maximum age (such as 21 or 25) where juvenile system authority over a young person terminates. Thus, a 16-year-old convicted of murder in juvenile court must be released from custody at age 25, with his juvenile record expunged.

Juvenile courts are a recent phenomenon (dating only to 1899) because the notion of a juvenile is recent. The status of ôchildö did not exist for most of history. Children were property until they reached age five or six. After reaching that age, the child had to act according to the same mandates as adults. The sta...

Page 1 of 9 Next >

More on California's Proposition 21: Pros and Cons...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
California's Proposition 21: Pros and Cons. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 07:12, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709394.html