The article that I will be preparing a critical analysis of is “The Honest Politician’s Guide to Juvenile Justice in the Twenty-First Century” (Feld, 1994, as cited in Spohn & Hemmens, 2012, pp. 55-65). In reading this article, Fled provided a persuasive analysis and my conclusions will follow. In Fled's article, he makes convincing arguments for proposed changes that should be put in its place such as changing the Juvenile Court which, to his way of thinking, has changed completely from what was known as a “Social Welfare Agency” to one that is considered faulty, defective, and lacking. Another argument that he points out is procedural inadequacy as well as having the Juvenile Court System repealed and put in its place a unified criminal justice
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The main reason he was very persuasive is based on my research on the American Judicial System’s perceived common and racial stereotypes of young criminals/offenders in the past 30 years. The Juvenile Justice System has experienced extensive changes in its treatment of the child/adolescent offenders. Accordingly, another persuasive argument deals with the increase of public fear, academics, politicians, lawmakers, and the government's get-tough approach, and the media's discourse all assisted in eliminating the longstanding differentiation between an adult and youth. Due to the above individuals (lawmakers, politicians, etc.) and how juveniles were looked at, that is equating both the adult and the youth the same by making it agreeable for a child to be answerable to harsh punishments that were, at one time, previously reserved for adult perpetrators only. In this regard, when reflecting on how a juvenile offender went from going to reform school to going to prison to serve a life sentence without parole for adolescents, I am reminded how stereotypes about crime and race deprived most youngsters of their youth, especially African American teens as Fled stressed in his …show more content…
When the Juvenile Justice System focused on the gravity of the crime rather than the nature of the offender, it evolved into and became the focal point for the above-noted individuals (media, government, etc.). This lead to a calculated remedy which was to incapacitate and control youthful offenders through severe discipline. As noted controlling such adolescences by way of adult treatment in subjecting them to serious punishments such as life without parole is the proof of those corrective efforts. As such when the reason why youth discounts should not be applied, it should be based on looking at substantial restrictions on discipline harshness, removal of all required minimum sentences, and an establishment of some methodical judicial judgment to mitigate penalties based on a person's circumstances. What I have learned from this article is that any efforts to apply a reduction in costs for youths within the mandatory or flawed indeterminate sentencing systems that presently prevail in many authority runs the chance taken mirroring the present injustices and inequalities. Because of this article and its persuasiveness on Fled’s part, I have come to realize that criminal law that bases a ruling on accountability and responsibility must observe the socially, psychological, and physical established difference between adults and youths. By saying this, affirming
The main reason he was very persuasive is based on my research on the American Judicial System’s perceived common and racial stereotypes of young criminals/offenders in the past 30 years. The Juvenile Justice System has experienced extensive changes in its treatment of the child/adolescent offenders. Accordingly, another persuasive argument deals with the increase of public fear, academics, politicians, lawmakers, and the government's get-tough approach, and the media's discourse all assisted in eliminating the longstanding differentiation between an adult and youth. Due to the above individuals (lawmakers, politicians, etc.) and how juveniles were looked at, that is equating both the adult and the youth the same by making it agreeable for a child to be answerable to harsh punishments that were, at one time, previously reserved for adult perpetrators only. In this regard, when reflecting on how a juvenile offender went from going to reform school to going to prison to serve a life sentence without parole for adolescents, I am reminded how stereotypes about crime and race deprived most youngsters of their youth, especially African American teens as Fled stressed in his …show more content…
When the Juvenile Justice System focused on the gravity of the crime rather than the nature of the offender, it evolved into and became the focal point for the above-noted individuals (media, government, etc.). This lead to a calculated remedy which was to incapacitate and control youthful offenders through severe discipline. As noted controlling such adolescences by way of adult treatment in subjecting them to serious punishments such as life without parole is the proof of those corrective efforts. As such when the reason why youth discounts should not be applied, it should be based on looking at substantial restrictions on discipline harshness, removal of all required minimum sentences, and an establishment of some methodical judicial judgment to mitigate penalties based on a person's circumstances. What I have learned from this article is that any efforts to apply a reduction in costs for youths within the mandatory or flawed indeterminate sentencing systems that presently prevail in many authority runs the chance taken mirroring the present injustices and inequalities. Because of this article and its persuasiveness on Fled’s part, I have come to realize that criminal law that bases a ruling on accountability and responsibility must observe the socially, psychological, and physical established difference between adults and youths. By saying this, affirming