JUVENILES IN ADULT COURTS
... These types of transfers are popular and very appealing to the public in our society, partly because of the incredible number of violent crimes that now occur in our society. The people believe that these offenders should be tried in adult courts in order to get more certain convictions and steeper, harsher punishments. Yet, many of the cases that are tried in adult courts do not fit this profile. There is even a popular political slogan that reads, “do an adult crime, do adult time,” (Leeper, 2). People believe that if the juveniles are tried as adults, they will receive harsher punishments, but in reality, this is only true in the most severe cases. These are the ones you see on television and read in the newspaper as in the school shootings. Other smaller crimes go to adult court and sometimes receive less if any punishment in comparison to the juvenile courts. The people have the idea that these juveniles are beyond the help that the juvenile courts have to offer. They think that these juveniles committed such a crime, are well aware, and should be held responsible for their actions. The juvenile court system is too lenient and is not able to handle these types of cases. It was not set up too handle these types of cases that were almost unheard of when it was put into effect. The people do not believe that locking up a juvenile for a few years until they are an “adult” is a fair or just punishment. The lawmakers and society as a whole are committed to this action very deeply because they believe it will help alleviate the problem. They feel that sending these types of juvenile cases to adult court is the only option left. It is the only way that these juveniles can be punished effectively. Programs and treatment centers are an option for some of the juvenile offenders, but it is agreed that some offenders are well past that option. The only remaining option in our society seems to be to treat them as adults and let them suffer the same consequences as an adult offender would. There is a feeling in society, that these offenders are like small adults and not helpless little children who do not know any better. Most of these offenders know exactly what they are doing and are repeatedly in trouble with the law. For the most part people believe that this type of action is justified in regards to the type of crimes committed, but some people believe that this course of action is more harmful than helpful. When you send a juvenile into an adult court and prison setting regardless of the crime committed, all that can come is harm. You send a juvenile into a jail as a youth and he or she comes out as a hardened. There can be no good results with sending a juvenile into an environment with criminal adults. Also, if you take a youth and put him into prison for a number of years his options are very limited when he is returned to society less than that of an adult offender. Critics disagree that with murders and the like, juvenile courts are too easy. They just do not believe that these children are too far from help, and disagree that they belong with adults. They criticize that it is wrong to put them with the adult criminals and they believe that another alternative must be found. Yet, so far for a lack of a better alternative, this is how society chooses to deal with the issue. When speaking on the success of sending these juvenile offenders into the adult court system, you first have to figure out what the goals for success were. If success meant merely to take these certain juvenile offenders off the streets and receive harsher penalties than the juvenile court would give, than it has been a success. There has been much success by sending juveniles into adult courts to answer for their crimes. It has worked, juveniles are everyday being sent to adult courts and receiving swift and fitting judgment for their crimes. They are receiving penalties that adults would receive and serving their sentences in adult type facilities. They have been removed as juveniles and are now considered as adults. If these types of transfers were supposed to deter crime for juveniles than many would say that this has not been much of a success. First, the violent crime rate for juvenile offenders is steadily increasing. The overall crime rate has also b...