The Legal Framework: Juvenile Offenders, Court Trials, and Punishments

This essay examines the controversial topic of whether juvenile offenders should be tried and punished in a court of law, referencing the increasing rates of juvenile crime and the intervention of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. It discusses the importance of gauging the severity of crimes when determining appropriate sentences, emphasizing the need for punishment to instill guilt and promote reformation. The essay considers arguments against sentencing juveniles as adults, highlighting ethical concerns and the potential for negative impacts on their development. It also touches upon the potential for regulations to reduce juvenile crime rates and concludes by advocating for differentiated treatment to foster positive mentalities and reduce criminal activities among juvenile offenders. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and resources for students.

Should Juvenile Offenders Be Tried
and Punished in A Court of Law
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author Note

Introduction
• The increase in the number of the crimes that are committed by the
juveniles have been observed to be on the rise in the present times.
This has further led to the conditions that might require the
intervention of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The legislation has
helped in the matters that pertain to the identification of the severity
of the crimes that are attempted by the various members of the
adolescent members of the society.

Identification of the severity of
the crime
Severity of the crime committed must be gauged while grouping the
crime under a certain section
Justification for the sentence
The punishment that is extended towards the concerned defaulter
should aim to introduce the sense of the guilt and the reformation
among the concerned defaulters.

Increase in juvenile crime rate
“old enough to commit a crime, old enough to do the time” (Guarino-Ghezzi, 2017)
Opinions against the
effectiveness of the sentencing
juveniles
Ethics of the sentencing
juveniles
The juvenile defaulters and delinquents should not be locked along
with the adult criminals.
Imposition of the regulation might help in the reduction of the criminal
rates among the juveniles.

Conclusion
The differences in the treatments that have been meted out to the
concerned defaulters might help in the matters that pertain to the
developments of the mentalities of the concerned defaulters thereby
bringing down the rates of the criminal activities that are practiced by
the juvenile defaulters.

Questions
• What are the different opinions on the implementations of the Youth
Criminal Justice Act?
• How to develop the mentalities of the juvenile defaulters so as to
bring down the rates of the criminal acts that involve the juveniles?

References
Cohen, A. O., Bonnie, R. J., Taylor-Thompson, K., & Casey, B. J. (2015). When does a juvenile become an adult: implications for
law and policy. Temp. L. Rev., 88, 769.
Damm, A. P., & Dustmann, C. (2014). Does growing up in a high crime neighborhood affect youth criminal behavior?. American
Economic Review, 104(6), 1806-32.
Dowd, N. E. (Ed.). (2012). Justice for kids: Keeping kids out of the juvenile justice system. NYU Press.
Guarino-Ghezzi, S. (2017). Balancing juvenile justice. Routledge.
Loeber, R., & Farrington, D. P. (2012). Advancing knowledge about direct protective factors that may reduce youth
violence. American journal of preventive medicine, 43(1), 2.
Sprott, J. B., Webster, C. M., & Doob, A. N. (2013). Punishment severity and confidence in the criminal justice system. Canadian
Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 55(2), 279-292.
Van Ness, D. W. (2012). The shape of things to come: A framework for thinking about a restorative justice system. In Restorative
justice: Theoretical foundations (pp. 23-42). Willan.