Should Juveniles Be Charged as Adults in Criminal Cases - Research Paper Example

Transfer mechanisms may vary according to where the responsibility for the transfer decision making lies and the provisions for this fall into three categories: a judicial waiver, concurrent jurisdiction, and statutory exclusion. In a judicial waiver, the juvenile court judge has the power to relinquish the juvenile court’s right and move the case to an adult criminal court. In a concurrent jurisdiction however, the original jurisdiction for certain cases is shared by both the criminal court and the juvenile court and the prosecution has the discretion to decide in which courts to file the cases in.

In statutory exclusion, a state statute excludes certain juvenile offenders from the jurisdiction of a juvenile court and the cases against them come from criminal courts. Because of the increasing crime rates, as well as the more dangerous crimes being committed by juveniles, more pressure is being exerted not only by prosecutors and but also by the general public to charge these youths as adults as opposed to their being processed through the juvenile justice system. Virtually every juvenile offender with a past criminal history or is notorious for violent crime, is tried an adult court (Buffalo News, 1994).

Rhodes, K (2008) states that while structures are present in all states to try and discipline juveniles in ways that are distinctive from adults, crimes such as rape and homicide are controversial because it is not easy to determine whether juveniles merit a less punitive treatment from that of adults. It is understandable that some people would seek to have the juvenile offenders receive a harsher punishment for their crimes especially considering the high number of crimes being committed by juveniles.

The juvenile justice system has been reformed so much to an extent that they are almost indistinguishable from the adult justice system. The question that we have to consider is whether all these reforms have been of any benefit to the society or not. These harsh laws which have been put in place to curb juvenile crime have been proven not to work over the years and have instead treated this age group unfairly and inhumanely, not achieving the safer society which was the purpose for their being enacted (Crime Control Digest, 2004).

It has been proven that juveniles who have been prosecuted through the adult system serve shorter sentences and their experiences in adult prisons teaches them to become even more dangerous criminals once they are released. Furthermore, counseling, which is crucial in helping the juveniles in the transition to life beyond prison, is denied them in adult prisons and it has been observed that many juveniles have a hard time adjusting to life once they are released back into society. This is due to the fact that while youths in the juvenile system undergo programs to reform them, those in the adult system learn to become hardened criminals, hence the increasing likelihood their going back to crime in society once they are released.

While the juvenile system hides the criminal records of youths who have gone through it, the adult system does not and the adult criminal records of convicted juveniles keep them from getting jobs or being admitted to some schools and this leads them towards committing new crimes in order to make money for survival. Once these youths are stuck with criminal records, they tend to be permanently stigmatized and are allowed few opportunities to regain