Review of juvenile crime study source Essay

Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults is an essay by Laurence Steinberg, which expresses his views of if, when, and why jejuneness offenders should be tried as adults. He comp ars the juvenile system to the adult system and point out hat the two differ in their respective(prenominal) forms of decision making for treatment or discipline. In the recent past, society has redefined the judicial system for juveniles and is striving to get more youth offenders trued and disciplined in adult jail systems (632). According to Steinberg, this represents a fundamental challenge to the very premise that the juvenile court was founded on that adolescents and adults are different (632), and these forms of discipline are detrimental to the rehabilitation of unexampled criminals.The seed poses the question of how effective the judicial system is at determining when a child is to be tried as an adult and points out three very distinct characteristics of an adolescent individual between the elds of 12 and 17. First, he states that there are dramatic changes in individuals physical, intellectual, emotional, and kind capabilities between these ages (632). Secondly, he claims that between theses ages, individuals that have broken laws are still open to many positive influences that may help them abandon their criminal instincts and tendencies (632).Lastly, he points out that youth offenders who are sentenced to harsh punishments as adolescents often do not recover from the mental harm it causes because it is an important developmental time and these experiences may have lasting and disadvantageous effects on their adult behaviors (632). In a second argument, Steinberg explains that he doesnt believe that the age of a young defendant should be overlooked and, as seen earlier in the essay, uses three main points to illustrate this idea. First, he expresses that the legal system has a set of regulations and usance which differs from the individualistic and informal setting of a juvenile court (633). For further explanation of the point, the author informs the proofreader that the differences between the adult and juvenile systems are of import in that the adult system utilizes only punishment in the form of jail time, probation, and labor (work), whereas the juvenile system uses more unconventional forms of punishment which places an fury on rehabilitation and cooperative programs to get adolescent offenders back on the right track (633).Secondly, he states that it is questionable whether a youthful offender has the competence to stand trial or not becauseof several factors including maturity and mental health status (633). In a tertiary and final point, the author informs the reader that because the adult court is based strictly on punishment, youth offenders have little to no chance for rehabilitation in the adult system (634). In his final argument, Steinberg suggests how he feels certain age groups should be dealt with in the legal systems. He conc ludes that children under the age of 12 should most definitely not be tried in an adult courtroom, that individuals older than 16 are not appreciable different from adults, and that the decision to try individuals between the ages of 12 and 16 should be based on a n individualized review and personalized assessment of circumstance, case matter, and a multitude of mental, social, and intellectual factors (635). In closing the author reminds us that there is no easy way to make the determination of whether youth offenders should be tried as adults, but that ignoring the offenders age entirely is like trying to ignore and elephant that has wandered in to the courtroom. You can do it, but most people will know that something smells foul (635).