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For the Resolution Resolved: Violent juvenile offenders ought to be treated as adults in the criminal justice system. January/Febuary 2000 NFL LD Topic Editor and Researcher: Craig Linton I make no warranty regarding this document and the contents herein. The user of this document retains full responsibility for insuring the accuracy of information provided herein. Use at your own risk! Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page Title: Trying kids as adults may not stop juvenile crime. Source: Business First - Western New York, 08/16/99, Vol. 15 Issue 46, p27, 1/9p LESS CONVICTIONS WHEN TRIED AS ADULTS Singer's study found that few young offenders are tried as adults. And, if they are, they are rarely convicted. He found that the law is differentially applied, with the likelihood that juveniles will be prosecuted in criminal court varying according to race, gender, time and county in which they are prosecuted. Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page Title: Housing juveniles in adult facilities: A common-sense approach. Source: Corrections Today, Jun97, Vol. 59 Issue 3, p20, 1p Author(s): Backstrom, James C. ADULT DETENTION CENTERS BETTER EQUIPED TO HANDLE VJO's Serious, violent and habitual offenders need to be incarcerated to protect public safety and provide punishment and accountability. Common sense dictates that using available space in local county jails and state prisons should be an option subject to reasonable restrictions. In fact, adult detention facilities probably are better equipped to deal with today's dangerous and violent juveniles. FEWER REASONS TO SEGREGATE We cannot overlook the fact that today's juvenile offenders often are sophisticated, gang-connected juveniles committing violent crimes, and there are fewer reasons to be concerned about segregating these hard-core juvenile offenders from adults. I am not suggesting that we lock up every juvenile needing incarceration with hardened adult criminals, but I am suggesting that local law enforcement officials be given greater flexibility to decide when it is appropriate to house them with adults. ADULT FACILITIES SEGREGATED Most modern adult jails and prisons have segregated units to allow the separation of offenders by categories, such as pre-trial/post-trial or men/women. These facilities also can segregate offenders by age. Juveniles ages 15 to 17 can be mandated by law to attend the same schools as young adults ages 18 to 19, but they are prohibited from being housed in a detention facility with the same young adults. In many cases, 15- to 25-year-old offenders commit offenses together. Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page Title: Easing get-tough approach on juveniles. (cover story) Source: Christian Science Monitor, 08/16/99, Vol. 91 Issue 182, p1, 0p Author(s): McLaughlin, Abraham SOME JUVENILES DON'T UNDERSTAND MIRANDA RIGHTS Commission members, like a growing number of people in the field, are making a distinction between older and younger juveniles based on academic research. They say young kids can't understand elements of due process, such as Miranda warnings. "A nine-year-old might think 'You have the right to remain silent' means he can be silent until an adult asks him a question," says Michael Howlett, chairman of the commission. Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page Title: Shackled in the Land of Liberty: No Rights for Children. Source: Annals of the American Academy of Political & Social Science, Jul99, Vol. 564, p37, 19p Author(s): Mohr, Wanda POINT OF THE JCJS The juvenile court "was part of a general movement directed toward removing adolescents from the criminal law process and creating special programs for delinquent, dependent, and neglected children" (Platt 1977, 10). At the time of its creation, it was heralded as one of the greatest advances in the cause for troubled children (10). It was premised on the parens patriae philosophy assuming the state's authority to protect those who cannot protect themselves. In contrast to the adult criminal justice system, which operates under a primarily punitive and just-deserts rubric, the fundamental canon of the juvenile justice system in the United States has traditionally put an emphasis on individualized treatment and rehabilitation. Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page Hunter Hurst, director of the National Center for Juvenile Justice, Pittsburgh, Pa. "TURN OF THE CENTURY: REDISCOVERING THE VALUE OF JUVENILE TREATMENT". CORRECTIONS TODAY. Feb. 1990, pp. 48-50 JUSTICE NOT IN JJS BUT CJS FOR PUNISHMENT There are some strong indications that the public's desire to punish young "predators" has not yet been satisfied. However, there are some clear indications that if punishment is to be the overriding purpose of prosecuting juvenile offenders, then that purpose is going to need to be carried out in the criminal justice system rather than in the juvenile justice system. JJS NOT ABOUT CORRECTING BEHAVIOR Juvenile corrections professionals speak sparingly these days about correcting the behavior of young offenders and much more about education, skill training, social survival skills, community service and self-discipline. The word "rehabilitation" is used less and less, and the word "treatment" is almost extinct, destined to be rediscovered under a new name at any moment. Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page "VICTIMS AND WITNESSES IN THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM ". NIJ REPORTS, U.S. Dept. of Justice. Sept./Oct. 1989, pp. 9-11 STATS ON VJO's Juveniles account for about one in three arrests for property crime and nearly one in six arrests for violent crimes. Presumably, the victims of these crimes suffer emotional and financial consequences similar to those felt by the victims of adult offenders. WITNESSES & VICTIMS LESS INFORMED IN JJS Victims and witnesses of juvenile crime are also likely to encounter a juvenile justice system that is different in purpose and procedure from the criminal system. The proceedings are less formal than those in the adult system, and the juvenile system typically incorporates confidentiality protections that may result in victims and witnesses being less informed. Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page Dale Parent (and others), "TRANSFERRING SERIOUS JUVENILE OFFENDERS TO ADULT COURTS". National Institute of Justice Research in Action. Jan. 1997 Justice Department (DOJ) National Institute of Justice (NIJ) PROBLEMS WITH JUVENILES IN ADULT FACILITIES Placing juveniles in adult facilities raises issues such as: - Their risk of being raped or assaulted by the older inmates. If kept in isolation for protection, they are then at increased risk for suicide. - Their different needs with respect to diet and physical exercise as well as requirements for a different form of discipline. Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page JUSTICE STEVENS, joined by JUSTICE BRENNAN, JUSTICE MARSHALL, and JUSTICE BLACKMUN. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, Syllabus, No. 86-6169, THOMPSON v. OKLAHOMA, CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF OKLAHOMA, Argued November 9, 1987--Decided June 29, 1988. JUVENILES HAVE LESS CULPABILITY This Court has already endorsed the proposition that less culpability should attach to a crime committed by a juvenile than to a comparable crime committed by an adult, since inexperience, less education, and less intelligence make the teenager less able to evaluate the consequences of his or her conduct while at the same time he or she is much more apt to be motivated by mere emotion or peer pressure than is an adult. Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page JUSTICE SCALIA, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE WHITE join, dissenting. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, No. 86-6169, THOMPSON v. OKLAHOMA, CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF OKLAHOMA. [June 29, 1988] ADULT TRIALS MEAN ADULT PUNISHMENTS Standing by its earlier decision in Eddings v. State, 616 P.2d 1159, 1166-1167 (1980), rev'd on other grounds, 455 U.S. 104 (1982), the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals held that "once a minor is certified to stand trial as an adult, he may also, without violating the Constitution, be punished as an adult." 724 P.2d 780, 784 (1986). Back to LD Evidence Shack Main Page
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