Essay On The Age Of Delinquency

Improved Essays
There are several different ranges for ages of responsibility for juveniles around the world. Out of 22 countries, the range of ages of responsibility for juveniles range from a minimum of 7 years of age to 22 years of age. Some countries, however, have a minimum age of 6 years old to a maximum age of 16 years old. In most states, inside the United States for example, usually have a minimum age of 7 years old as age of responsibility. England is another example of a country with a different minimum range of responsibility. In England, any juvenile under the age of 10 will not be held criminally liable. Juveniles that range in the age of 10-16 years of age will be subject to special juvenile laws. Under the United Nations agreements, the most universally recognized age of adulthood is the age of 18. I feel that the age of responsibility for juveniles does sometime depend on the …show more content…
These rights were adopted in 1990 and are standards for countries to go by for juveniles (persons under age 18) that are in confinement. The rules specify that if a juvenile should only be confined or deprived of their liberty as a last resort. This time should also be for the shortest amount of time possible and should only be for exceptional cases (Dammer and Albanese, 2014, p. 289).
The last rule that the United Nation adopted is the Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency. This guideline, also known at the Riyadh Guidelines, was also adopted in 1990. These guidelines show a proactive approach to preventing delinquency by involving the roles of the family, the school, the community, the media, and juvenile justice administration, to name a few (Dammer and Albanese, 2014, p. 289).
These are the four major areas that the United Nations uses to demonstrate an appropriate response to juvenile delinquency around the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Parrens Patriae Case Study

    • 1024 Words
    • 4 Pages

    1. Explain the term “parents patriae”, and give an example as to when this would be used. “Parens patriae” is a Latin word which means a parent for a country. In this legal set of guidelines, the state can act as a guardian for individuals who are unable to care for themselves, such as children. In this policy, a Juvenile Court Judge has to determine when a child is delinquent, abandoned or needs parental care.…

    • 1024 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Consequently, they are more prone to risk taking and peer influence than adults; they think less about their future and express their emotions in more volatile ways. The juvenile system recognizes this distinct adolescent nature, and allows for recovery through developmentally appropriate programs, making young adults under eighteen better suited for the juvenile system rather than the adult system. However, when young law-breakers murder or rape someone, it is much more difficult call on whether they should be tried as adults or juveniles. The decision should be made on a case-by-case basis, depending on the severity, motive, and nature of the crimes. For example, a sixteen-year-old boy murdering his father to protect his sister warrants a different analysis than a case of a remorseless sixteen-year-old boy who murdered a mother and her two young children to steal a car.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    JJDPA Juvenile Crime

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Every single individual person that is living in the United States today and probably for years to come das been affected by juvenile crime. It not only affects parents, siblings, teachers, neighbors, and all families involved. This also affects the victims of crime, the bystander, and the perpetrators. Although the delinquency rates are experiencing a decrease, this is not true in many cities the rate is still remaining high. In these high crime cities numerous programs have attempted to try and lower this juvenile rate, but while there are a few that can be extremely successful and other programs have no impact and just minimal impact.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The 8th Amendment

    • 2053 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Too Young or Just Right? Through history, the way society has dealt with consequences to previous unjust actions have evolved over the years, especially with children. In the 18th century kids were being sent to jail or killed for innocent crimes. Cyriaque Lamar, an expert on this time period states “During the Victorian era kinds as young as 11 received adult sentences for minor crimes”.…

    • 2053 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Before this time however people were processed into the system and age was not taken into consideration. These laws came from old England where a person 17 or older could be put into the same system. However, similar to today’s system even back in the 1800’s a juvenile was rarely given a harsh punishment. Into the middle 19th century the juvenile…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Horrendous crimes have to be committed in order to be sentenced without parole. There are currently many countries in the world that punish underage criminals without ever giving them the opportunity to be free again, such as the United States, where around 2000 young criminals are imprisoned. Athough some crimes are too atrocious to be ever forgiven, it is of fundamental importance to take into consideration that children and teenagers are not fully mentally, physically, and emotionally developed, and they should not, therefore, be treated as adults while tried. It can be argued that crimes such as rape, murder, and kidnapping are so horrible that the criminal individuals deserve not to be ever given an opportunity to be reintegrated into society again. These individuals have committed such terrible actions that it would be unfair as well as dangerous to give them a second chance.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Social Services Thesis

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages

    According to the system they all mature at the same age, when it is completely ridiculous because they are not dealing with your “average” child. For example, let state that there was a child at the age of 16 who suffered through neglect, that child has 2 years to “cope” with neglecting. There should not be a time frame on healing wound, because there will still remain a scar. Physical, sexual abuse, neglect, foster care, etc. is not minor things its lifelong problems there should be somewhat of life-long support services. Without the correct support system for the juveniles, it will create them more negative effects on their life for example them becoming homeless.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Juvenile law is typically governed by the state and most states set the age for criminal culpability at eighteen (deferring between seventeen and nineteen in some cases) (Walsh, 2016). The founders of the juvenile court saw it as “a system of justice that would protect youth from potential harms of adult court and that seek to not only punish but also to advance the ‘best interests’ of youth.” The juvenile court, unlike adult court, is guided by parens patriae, which is Latin for “state as parent.” The juvenile court is set up to act as the parent and it can punish and dismiss cases how it seems is appropriate, while also seeking to help juveniles in a way that can lead them to live productive lives (Mears, Kuch, Lindsey, Siennick, Pesta, Greenwald & Bloomberg,…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Growing up I binge watched crime shows, NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Lockdown, you name it I watched it. My interest was always peaked when the shows involved younger people. Somehow this felt more relatable, even though I had never committed a crime and didn’t plan on doing so. It seems that every time a Juvenile commits a crime it is brought to our attention. This got me thinking, is there a level of severity a crime has to reach in order for a juvenile to be tried as an adult.…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Juvenile Recidivism

    • 1707 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The research gathered through professional interviews reflected that the act of incarcerating youth facilitates increased rates of recidivism. The six professional subjects interviewed for the purpose of this research commonly agreed on the notion that the youth more likely to be charged and incarcerated belong to underprivileged backgrounds, or have some sort of on going mental illness that has not been addressed. Most don’t have a proper support structure that ensures proper brain development and growth. Whilst living in economically poor neighborhoods, where the perception of criminal activity is already presumed high, many of these children build criminal affiliations. As Public Defenders serve the indigent communities, I was able…

    • 1707 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The minimum age a child can be held criminally responsible for an offence committed is a heavily debated topic universally, especially in the history of Australia to whom rectified the minimum age of criminal responsibility laws various times (Weijers and Grisso 2009). Globally the story is much the same as there is no mandatory minimum age that a child can be held responsible for there actions (Australian institute of criminology 2000), but rather their have been universally recognised rules within the United Nations Convention on the rights of a child that establishes that a child 's wellbeing must be imperative in a legal process such as in the courts (Australian institute of criminology 2000). Further on the global consensus, sovereign…

    • 1603 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    In our criminal justice system, juveniles are treated far differently than adults, but many suffer similar issues. Amongst juvenile offenders, there is an overwhelming number of youths who have a mental illness, making it necessary for actions to be taken to help individuals. In the system, mental illnesses must be identified do crucial services can be provided to provide reoffending. Our juvenile justice system needs to identify the needs and concerns of mental illness, address the types that classify, determine the link of this to juvenile offenders, in order to study if they are being provided adequate services, as well as what needs to be improved and changed for the future.…

    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are so many things that must be looked at when deciding to prosecute someone under the age of 18 into the adult criminal system. As mentioned in the beginning, not ALL juveniles should be considered for an adult sentence. However, in some cases the crime committed by the juvenile might merit adult sentencing. A deep and thorough investigation of past criminal records, mental health, nature of the crime, and maturity should be implemented. Trying juveniles and sentencing them to 1o years in prison for a petty crime, as was the case in Sean’s story, is bordering on “criminal” behavior in our justice system.…

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The last reason is when juveniles are responsible for their actions. This shows why Juveniles she get the same punishment as adults and then put in different jails from them until the age eighteen. One of the first reasons adolescents should be tried and incarcerated as adults when they can Formulate Criminal Intent. According to Peter where, author of the articles on “Juvenile Killers Deserve Adult Justice,” states “¼ of juveniles function in a manner very similar to…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time,” Not only is this a catchy phrase that is gaining popularity, but it also represents a departure from the purpose with which the juvenile justice system was originally created over one hundred years ago‒to protect and rehabilitate young offenders. In an ideal world, counseling and rehabilitation would be enough for juvenile criminals, but oftentimes for repeat or violent offenders, this is just not enough. In the majority of cases involving violent crimes juvenile offenders must face the consequences of their actions and be tried as adults. Violent crime rates among juvenile offenders are increasing. Juveniles now are more likely than ever before to be the perpetrators of serious and deadly…

    • 1073 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays