The name of the school/university
As it was already discussed in Chapter 6, the Juvenile court in the United States is well designed structure that is able to meet the necessities of dealing with the juvenile offenders. It relies mainly on the prevention from committing crimes rather than sentencing and punishing the offenders. The decisions of the court are based on the principle that everything must be done in the child’s interest. There is a substantial group of juvenile offenders who are waived to the adult courts and endure a real trial. A long discussion took place through the years about the waiving whether is it wrong or right, who is supposed to do it, is the death penalty applicable to juveniles or what happens with the youth offenders when they receive life sentence, etc.
First they tried to find the correct answer to the question children or adults when it comes to the comprehension of wrong and right made by the individuals, their social conscience, do they understand that by their actions they harm the others, do they have any mental illness that decreases the possibility of understanding their actions, do they feel guilty or feel ashamed because of their actions. What is maturity? Using others’ opinions and researches, the authors came to the conclusion that a big difference between the acceptance of the nature of the crime and the relative responsibility exists only between very young children and respectively young adults. Here are not included the big number of juveniles who have learning disabilities or other mental issues.
Further the authors precisely and motivated investigated how and who may waive a case from the juvenile to the adult court. They pay special attention to the procedure of the cases’ transfer from the juvenile to the adult court. They examine the people, according to their duties, who may do the transfer starting with the Judicial Waiver (intake officer, juvenile prosecutors or judges), discussing the prosecutorial discretion and Statutorial Exclusion in some states. The predominant opinion is that the cases of juvenile offenders have to be transferred to the adult courts after hearing. The possibility of evaluation of the waiver is also included as a measure of defense against violating the rights of the juvenile offender whose case is transferred to the adult court.
As a conclusion we may say that the juvenile court is the court that is entitled to decide the cases of juvenile offenders and every suggestion about a case to be transferred from the juvenile to the adult court has to be examined in a very precise manner and the decision must be taken after considering all aspects of child’s wellbeing.
Reference
Bartollas, C., & Miller, S., (2014) Juvenile Justice in America, 7th edition, Web Retrieved from www.online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780133140774
