Stop Treating Juveniles Like They Are Adults - 1935 Words

Stop Treating Juveniles Like They are Adults Introduction Treating juveniles like they are adults in any shape or form is completely wrong. Previously I stated that I believed juveniles who commit violent crimes should be tried as adults, but after careful thinking and research, I feel very differently about this matter because they are still children mentally. They do not have the mental capacity to make informed decisions like adults. According to Albow (2014), when we allow our justice system to treat children or adolescence as adults so that we can be more punishing of their acts, we show no commitment to justice. What we show is our own contempt for the truth. Most juveniles between the ages of 14-17 are sometimes incapable of†¦show more content†¦According to PBS (2014), psychologists and sociologists began to recognize the emerging notion of adolescence as a developmentally distinct period of life, reformers argued that children should be removed from adult prisons. This diagnosis brought forth reform in the ways chil dren would be tried and housed when they are sentenced. According to PBS (2014), in 1825, the Society for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency founded the New York House of Refuge, the first institution designed to accommodate juvenile delinquents. This House of Refuge led the way for many other refugee houses being opened across the United States. The system which was put in place was to be less punitive and more catering to the needs of the juvenile with the main goal being rehabilitation. The very first juvenile justice reformers were known as â€Å"child savers.† Because of the advocacy of the child savers, the very first juvenile court was established in Cook County, Illinois, in 1899. Problems First Problem The first problem I see that exist is rehabilitation for juveniles within the adult justice system. Children were meant to be individually situated for purpose of reforming and redemption. Juvenile detention facilities have certain programs set in place to support the process of reformation. Prisons simply do not allow juveniles to be rehabilitated. With the proper care and treatment most children who commit crimes, even some of the