What is your opion of the juvenile justice system?

Question

Do you think it is to lenient or to harsh?

What are its major accomplishments?

Major failures?

At what age should you be old enough to be tried for a crime?

What crimes at what ages would merit an adult court?

Answer 1

not strong enough they need to have there little buts warmed up a little when they are younger

korkie

Answer 2

I know what you are asking but I think you are putting the cart before the horse.

If mothers and fathers would parent their children you wouldn't have to ask your question.  Without proper supervision kids can get into trouble too easily.  The Juvenile system, in order to be effective, has to make snap decisions on how to handle a juvenile and what would be most beneficial to encourage better behavior.

This isn't easy since lots of kids know how to work the system because they learned at an earlier age how to work their parents!

What may be deemed to be too lenient on one individual, may appear to be too harsh on another.  It's definitley not One Size Fits All!

The major accomplishment would be the time-out it offers both parents and child.  Sometimes it clears the air and strenghtens the family.  When that happens, obviously it's a great success.

It's major failures would be the warehousing of juveniles.  Instead of reinforcing better behavior, it often does the opposite due to the sheer numbers of bad apples in the unit.

In my opinion, juveniles up to and including 18 should be given the benefit of a doubt and every effort should be made to put that child on the right course.  Maybe tutoring to bring the kid up to his grade level would help.  On the other hand, maybe a kid needs to actually see a hard core prison and learn what it's like not to visit, but to live there.

After 18 and to 21, I would try youths for crimes but with more lenient sentencing.  This is the age when legally they can be on their own and are supposed to function without direct supervision.  Now the court must be both the parent and the court.  

I do not merit trying anyone under the age of 18 for adult crimes.  

My dog is barking her head off.  She wants to go out.  So sorry, but I gotta go.

Answer 3

i am a strong beleiver in are juvenile justice system. it works trust me. they are lenient in most cases. they focus mainly on rehabilitation. so that the juvie will understand some of what an adult will face.  

Answer 4

If the kids are commiting such felonies that we need an entire "juvenile" system, then i think our society is in bad shape

Answer 5

I don't think there is a correct answer to the lenient/harsh question. I've seen it go both ways. You have to have a judge who is consistent in his sentencing. Major accomplishments? Hmmmm....that's a tough one. At least juveniles are being prosecuted. Major failures (IMHO) are that judges are putting kids on probation too much and not doing anything to them when they break probation. I know of one kid I dealt with from the time he was about 10 years old. He's now in his early 20's. He was always in trouble. Not just petty stuff either. The juvenile judges in our county felt probation was better for him than letting him sit in JDC for a time. Today, he is sitting in prison with a life sentence for murder. We all said it was gonna happen. I think that kids should be held accountable for their actions as soon as they know right from wrong. Maybe as young as 8-9. I believe that they should be tried as adults at the age of 16-17 for crimes of violence. Rape, robbery, felonious assault and murder to name a few.