Challenges Facing Juvenile Imprisonment in the United States - Term Paper Example

Running head: Prison sentencing reform-juveniles Prison sentencing reform-juveniles Contents Contents 2 3 Stating the problem 3 Prison Sentencing to reform Juveniles 4 Reasons for incarceration 4 Challenges facing juvenile imprisonment in the U.S 6 Effectiveness of prison sentencing in reforming juveniles 7 Conclusion 10 References 11 Abstract This paper tackles the issue of prison sentencing in relation to reforming juveniles. The aims behind the process, the reasons for juvenile prison sentencing, challenges as well as the effectiveness and the ineffectiveness of the process are discussed in details. Prison sentencing to reform juveniles is a very severe course to take in juvenile offender reforming and it should be discouraged. Stating the problem Delinquency among teenagers is one of the greatest problems that have haunted the American society for a long time. Children in their early teenage years commit crimes without their knowledge as they go through their challenging adolescent stage. This is normally motivated by peer pressure whereby the deviant teenagers lure their friends to commit crimes in the name of having thrilling fun in their neighborhoods. Most American kids get away with the crimes they commit since the people in the community seldom take the matters to court but those who are not lucky enough to be forgiven face trials and they are given various sentences by the courts. Delinquent juveniles may be incarcerated by the court as punishment, depending on the gravity of their actions. This normally happens when the crime committed by the juvenile could attract a heavy sentencing penalty if he or she was an adult. Repeat juvenile offenders also attract incarceration sentences. Juvenile offenders may be sent to juvenile correction facilities and later transferred to state prisons if they fail to reform as required of them. This paper will discuss prison sentencing reform for juveniles in the U.S. and its effectiveness. Prison sentencing of juveniles has more negative effects on the lives of the offenders and it should be discouraged. Analysis Prison Sentencing to reform Juveniles Recent developments in the American Justice System allowed the courts to sentence juveniles to life imprisonment without parole. The controversial issue has attracted heated debates in the American society and some people have petitioned the Supreme Court to overrule the policy. It is, however, a very good way of safeguarding the American society since the maximum sentencing is only done on juvenile offenders whose crimes could attract capital punishment or life imprisonment if they were adults. Some of these crimes include murder and rape among other serious crimes. The sentencing has been devised in order to keep the dangerous juvenile criminals away from the society. It is believed that the life imprisonment is a viable reform method for the deviant kids. Most of them are reformed within the first 10 years of imprisonment and the court may reduce their sentences to 25 years imprisonment (Jennings, 2010). The justice system in the U.S. has adopted a zero tolerance policy on crimes regardless of who has committed them. Whether a crime is committed by an adult or a juvenile, its intent is taken seriously by the American justice system and the law offenders are punished accordingly. The main purpose of incarcerating juveniles is to ensure that they reform while serving their sentence. Prior to sending them to prison, juveniles are tested their mental state to determine whether they are of stable mind and can reform after serving a given sentence in prison. The justice system also looks into preserving public safety when incarcerating juveniles (Jennings, 2010). Reasons for incarceration There are various reasons why a juvenile offender may be sentenced by a court of law in the U.S. Most of the imprisoned juveniles are serious offenders whose freedom is a threat to the public or to themselves. Such offenders include juveniles who are involved in drug crimes like trafficking illegal drugs, drug peddling and abuse. The court may sentence such juveniles directly to prison for reforming purposes. Incarcerating the juvenile drug laws offenders prevents them from infecting their peers with the vice and it generally makes the community safer. The severity of the sentencing process also acts as a motivating factor for other juveniles to keep off the vice (YTFG, 2010). Some teenagers have been sentenced to serve prison terms by the American court due to status offences (YTFG, 2010). Teenage runaways may be sent to prison to reform their bad habits. It is common for teenage runaways to engage in criminal activities like prostitution and minor thefts while on the streets. Some recurrently steal money from their parent and they runaway, only to return back home after they have used all the money. Truancy may also attract a prison sentence. Many deviant juveniles fail to respond to court summons or they willingly refuse to attend school sessions. The court may decide to send them to prison for a given period of time on a zero tolerance to law breaking basis. Technical violation of designed rules in juvenile correctional facilities may also cause a juvenile to be incarcerated. When attempts to reform juvenile offenders have claimed futile in the juvenile centers, a judge may sentence the deviant juveniles to imprisonment in a state prison where the reform conditions are harsh. This is aimed at ensuring that the juveniles are aware of their crimes and that they reform accordingly. Some teenagers may take probation for granted; hence prison sentences help in instilling discipline in them. Nurturing teenagers to become responsible adults may require harsh measures like prison sentencing (Kurlychek, 2010). Serious crimes like murder, rape and attempted suicide may require mental health checkups on the juvenile criminals. If they are found to be of sane mind, they are sent to prison to reform since it would be risky to send them to correctional centers to mingle with other minor juvenile offenders. Majority of the juvenile offenders in the U.S. prisons are imprisoned for such serious offences that make them serious threats to public safety. Those who are caught attempting suicide may be imprisoned to keep them away from attempting suicide again. The U.S. justice system values life and it strives to protect it (Kurlychek, 2010). Repeat juvenile offenders are sent for short prison sentences by the American courts to reform. It is common for teenagers to be sent to probation facilities after they are taken to court for various minor crimes. They serve their probation time only to end up repeating the same crimes knowingly. A judge may get fed up with the repeat offenders and deem it appropriate for the juveniles to serve a prison sentence for the purpose of complete reforming. In most cases the juvenile offenders who are sent to state prisons must be past a certain age. This age limit depends on the state that the juveniles are sentenced in. Felony cases involving juveniles may be handled in adult courts in which the judge may consider sending the offenders to prison if they are of the required age limit for juvenile imprisonment in that state (Kurlychek, 2010). Challenges facing juvenile imprisonment in the U.S One of the greatest challenges in juvenile imprisonment is determining whether or not a juvenile deserves to be sentenced to prison. Under the state law, a juvenile is anyone whose age does not permit the authorities to hold him or her against his or her criminal acts. Juvenile laws in the U.S. strongly dictate that juvenile offenders be mildly punished in an educative way to reform them. It is, therefore, not clear what would prompt the justice system to sentence a juvenile to prison. It is dependent on the values of a state and the moral gravity of the crimes they have committed. The decision solely lies on the judge in the case hearing since juveniles are not entitled to a right for legal representation by a lawyer in court. There is also no jury involved in a juvenile case; therefore, the decision solely comes from the judge. People may question the motives and morals of a judge who gives a harsh prison sentence to a juvenile offender (Kupchik, 2006). There has been a heated debate on whether juvenile offenders in America should be subjected to a mandatory life imprisonment sentence without parole. The public is concerned with the intentions of the state concerning juvenile offenders. The rate of life imprisonment among juvenile offender in the U.S. has significantly risen in the past few years. Critics are also not blind to the fact that prison sentencing is racially segregated. There are more juveniles of color in the U.S. state prisons and the public is concerned that there might be a bias in the justice system (Kupchik, 2006). The cost incurred to the state due to the increase in juvenile imprisonment is very high. This is because the facilities where the juvenile offenders are imprisoned have to be maintained in order for them to be safe for the juveniles. The juvenile prisoners have to be provided with constant security while in the facilities since they are prone to harm from other prisoners. Homosexuality rate in the U.S. prisons is very high. This poses a high risk of rape for the children and the state has to ensure that the juveniles are adequately protected against it. The youths may also require to be provided with educational facilities while in prison in order to reform them. This increases the size of the annual budget for state prisons (Kupchik, 2006). Effectiveness of prison sentencing in reforming juveniles The main purpose of sentencing juvenile offenders to prison terms is to ensure that they get fully reformed. In most case imprisoning juveniles reforms them since they undergo very harsh times in the prison facilities where their freedom is denied and they have to follow strict rules. They are not given a chance to continue being deviant and the fact that most are given the option of getting out of prison earlier if they reform fast, motivates them to change their delinquent behaviors. Prison punishment is effective since it is a painful experience. When the juveniles learn to associate crime with the painful sentence it attracts, they avoid their bad behaviors (Listwan, Colvin, Hanley & Flannery, 2010). Psychologically, punishing juveniles through prison sentences has a positive effect to their psychology. It triggers a learning process in their behaviors that enhances their conditional learning (Grigorenko, 2012). The youths learn their lesson when they are in prisons and they strive to avoid their bad behaviors thereafter. The continuous denial of freedom and the expectation that they should reform, programs their minds to keep off bad behaviors and with time they develop an automatic drive towards avoiding crime. The only concern with this type of punishment is that it may be too severe at times. There is no way of telling when the juveniles are fully reformed psychologically. It may take a few months for a juvenile who is sentenced for a long time in prison to reform. This means that during the rest of their sentence they just undergo harsh times that could have adverse impacts on their mentality. The experience in prison may have negative effects on juvenile offenders. Being confined in prison facilities takes away the freedom of the juveniles and the stress they go through may adversely affect their psychology. Adolescents are at the peak of their social skills development in their teenage and this is when most of them assume delinquent behaviors. Taking them to prison denies them the chance for healthy social development and it may cause them to alienate themselves from the rest of the society in their adult lives. Imprisoning cuts off their development in learning how to deal with social challenges and the skill of using self will (Listwan, Colvin, Hanley & Flannery, 2010). Prison is a fearful place to be. Most teenagers hear stories of events that happen in prisons through their peers. Getting to prison and experiencing these bad things like rape, harassment by the elder inmates generates immense fear of people. According to the developmental theory, shy personalities are developed by people who are afraid of interacting with other people due to one reason or the other. Bad past experiences on children may cause this and imprisonment of juveniles is a viable cause of such traumatic experiences. A sentence to prison may have immediate positive effects on the behavior of the juveniles but the long term effects on their psychology may be adverse (Listwan, Colvin, Hanley & Flannery, 2010). The children may develop mental illnesses caused by the post traumatic stress disorder they experience after they leave prison. The cognitive theory indicates that the cognitive development of an individual is dependent on their environmental factors. It has been proven by psychologists that an individual’s cognitive ability is fully developed at the age of 25 years. This means that during the first 25 years of an individual’s life, he or she should undergo a constant learning process that should not be interrupted in order to attain maximum cognitive ability. Sending juveniles to prison jeopardizes their cognitive development since the environment in prison is not suitable for learning. They live behind the same walls for a long time and their mind becomes dormant in learning. When they later get out of prison, they experience many challenges and are unable to fit in the society since their literacy level is low (Grigorenko, 2012). Incarcerated juveniles may also develop aggressive personalities. This can be psychologically motivated by the fact that children learn from observation. Sending them to prison is the first lesson they learn since it is the worst punishment among all the other alternative punishments that are available. It instills a culture of using the most severe methods to get what they want. Adolescents may also choose to get even more deviant while in the prison facilities since their cognitive ability at this stage of development does not give them the sense of thinking about their future. The whole imprisonment process may end up being a waste of time and resources to reform the juveniles (Grigorenko, 2012). The severity of prison sentencing on juveniles, who are clearly defined by the juvenile laws as people who are not mentally mature and may not be held accountable for their actions, can be argued as inhumane. Most teenagers engage in crimes impervious of the legal translations of their actions. There are many avenues of reforming the children. Some juvenile offenses are too serious for them to be allowed to roam around freely in the society, but imprisonment should be the last resort when all the other methods of reform fail (Listwan, Colvin, Hanley & Flannery, 2010). Conclusion Juvenile is defined as any person whose age and maturity level is not adequate enough for him or her to be held accountable for crimes that he or she commits. Juvenile laws in the U.S. have been controversial for a long time especially on the modes of punishment that are implemented by the government to reform deviant juveniles. Prison sentencing to reform juveniles has raised a lot of fair and unfair criticism from the public as well as from behavior professionals who include psychologists. The effectiveness of this method of juvenile offenders’ punishment is not guaranteed to be positive. It halts the education of the children and it adversely affects their development in terms of social and cognitive skills. Prison sentencing should not be used as a reform method for the juveniles in the U.S. References Grigorenko, E. L. (2012). Handbook of Juvenile Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry. NY: Springer. Jennings, J. C. (2010). Juvenile Justice, Sullivan, and Graham: How The Supreme Courts Decision Will Change The Neuroscience Debate. Duke Law & Technology Review, 1(6), 1-10. Kurlychek, M. C. (2010). Juvenility and Punishment: Sentencing Juveniles in Adult Criminal Court. Criminology, 48(3), 725-758. Kupchik, A. (2006). The Decision to Incarcerate in Juvenile and Criminal Courts. Criminal Justice Review (Sage Publications), 31(4), 309-336. Listwan, S. J. Colvin, M., Hanley, D. & Flannery, D. (2010). Victimization, Social Support, and Psychological Well-Being. Criminal Justice & Behavior, 37(10), 1140-1159. YTFG. (2010). A Blueprint for Juvenile Justice Reform. Youth Transition Funders Group. Retrieved from: http://www.ytfg.org/documents/JEHT_FINAL_4_20.pdf Read More