Juvenile Offenders In The Court System

For many years there has been arguments on how to effectively handle juvenile offenders in the court system. Regardless of the approach used, all parties seek to achieve the same outcome: decrease recidivism, improve the juvenile’s lives, and ensure the community is a safe place overall. However, with the public outcry and new laws being adopted, more juvenile delinquents are being bound over into the adult court system and sent to adult institutions. Throughout the years studies that have been conducted have proven sending youth as young as fourteen years-old to adult prisons is not the answer; this action is creating higher recidivism rates, violent youths, as well as a greater chance to be victimized by older inmates and staff. First …show more content…
First, is the automatic transfer law. The automatic transfer is a mandatory transfer to the adult system if certain criteria are met: age, violent felony, and previous criminal record. The second law is referred to as Judicial-discretion, which allows the juvenile judge to make the decision on whether to keep the case in juvenile court or transfer it into the adult courts. Lastly, there is a law referred to as prosecutorial-discretion. Prosecutorial-discretion revolves around the prosecutor deciding on where he would like to file charges. The prosecutor has the choice of indicting the defendant in juvenile or adult courts (Redding 2). With only three options on dealing with juvenile court cases it is easy to see how many kid’s slip through the cracks in the court system and end up in adult facilities. Especially, with the automatic transfer law, which is in over fifty-percent of the states. Unfortunately, the automatic transfer law leaves prosecutors and judges with their hands tied. No matter how they feel, they have no choice but to ship these children into the adult …show more content…
As previously stated, prior to the transfer and sentencing process the overall goal is to find the most appropriate solution to decrease recidivism and increase rehabilitation. Re-creating these young men into productive members of society is a vital objective. However, it is being proven that transferring of minors into the adult system is resulting in the opposite desire. “The Department of Justice has stated that almost two-thirds of released juvenile prisoner’s recidivate with three years of being reintroduced into society” (Tsui 645). The overwhelming statistic sets off alarms nationwide when it comes to youth corrections. Not only is the justice system failing to curb the predicament of preventing the youth from returning to prison, an all-access road down recidivism avenue is being paved. The revolving door does not seem to be closing anytime soon unless immediate action is taken; children in adult prisons is not the