Posted: August 1st, 2023

Juvenile Vs Adult Court Systems

Instructions

There are differences between the juvenile and adult court systems. In this assignment, you will choose a criminal case study of your choice or you may use one from the Chronline Website. You will read and summarize the case involving the adult. Then you will examine the case from a different perspective —considering how this case would unfold differently if a juvenile had committed the crime.

Read the case information and write a two to three (2-3) page paper in which you:
Summarize the facts of the case.
Examine how the procedure would be different if the defendant(s) were a juvenile at the time that the offense was committed.
Identify and discuss how juvenile proceedings differ from adult criminal proceedings, and discuss the differences between an adult and a minor being charged with the same crime.
Define the waiver process of transferring a juvenile into the adult court system.
Assuming that the defendant in your selected case was a minor being tried as a juvenile, make recommendations for disposition and support your recommendation.
Use at least three (3) quality references. You are encouraged to use the Strayer University Online library (https://research.strayer.edu) to locate academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
This course requires the use of the new Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). Take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details. If you prefer to use Help write my thesis – APA style, discuss with your professor.
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow SWS or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.

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Juvenile Vs Adult Court Systems
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Juvenile Vs Adult Court Systems
The criminal justice system contains the adult department and the juvenile department. The adult justice system deals with incarcerated people above sixteen to eighteen years old depending on the jurisdiction. The concept of the juvenile justice system came after the adult justice system was introduced. In the earlier years, juveniles used to be punished by the community, church, and family. The juvenile court system was introduced in the period between 1899 to 1966. The court decided that the juveniles should also have certain procedural due process rights in 1967. There came a crime control era where the court proceedings resembled those of an adult criminal justice system. That is the current system still used today, and it provides harsher sentences and increased transfers from juvenile to adult courts.
The following case study involves a man who was twenty-one years of age. He refused to step out of the car for the police to search his vehicle. The police let him know that they had the power to search the vehicle, so he gave in (Deferral of a sentence, n.d.). The police found out that the car had different quantities of drugs containing different packaging. The man has never been involved in any criminal activities before. He had a clean record. He, therefore, was charged with fourteen drug charges that included drug trafficking and possession. Josh Taaffe represented the man at the magistrates’ court. Josh tried to negotiate with the prosecutors before the hearing regarding the charges trying to convince them to accept that a large amount of the drugs was for personal use and not trafficking.
The man pleaded guilty to four charges: three charges of possession and one charge of trafficking. The elements of the charge, in this case, were if the substance involved was a drug of dependence and if the accused man possessed the content. All the other charges were therefore dropped. Josh presented a plea of mitigation in court and emphasized that the man’s ruling on a court sentence should be taken into account. Despite the client being an adult, twenty-one years was still young, which made his age of central importance. Josh tried to convince the jury how the man had been struggling with drug use from a young age. That spiraled out of control after he suffered a breakup. It also led to a break in his studies at the university.
Josh presented clean urine screens, character references, and reports of his client, demonstrating that the client had taken steps of rehabilitating himself immediately after being caught by the police. He also said that the client alcohol and drug counseling, sessions with a psychologist and had resumed his studies at the university. He had then abstained from drugs, which was proof to the court. The magistrate deferred the sentence to a period of five months. He ordered the man to continue providing urine screens. He would not receive a prison sentence for trafficking charges and drug possession if the progress turned out positively. He then received other penalties without conviction.
If a juvenile was in the place of the twenty-one-year-old man, the case would be reoffered to a juvenile court. After that, a probation officer would take over immediately. The case could either be dismissed and handle the case informally or file the charges usually (Jordan & McNeal, 2016). During an informal proceeding, the minor appear are supervised by a probation officer or judge and listen to an intense lecture, attend classes after school, attend counseling sessions, pay a fine, do community service and enter probation. The minor gets into a plea agreement in a formal proceeding. He has to comply with set conditions, such as counseling or curfews.
The case is diverted by the judge where he retains the case’s jurisdiction, but the juvenile goes through recommended programs such as counseling. The argument goes through a trial while the judge holds the hearing adjuratory. In most cases, the jury is not present. The judge gets to choose what’s best for the minor that includes probation, reimbursement of the involved victim, or confinement in the facility. Again, in a case where the minor is delinquent, the probation officer evaluates him by ordering psychological test or diagnosis where there is a need. The judge may also decide that the youth appears in court periodically to monitor his progress.
There are arguments about transferring juveniles into adult court. Some say that minors who commit serious crimes like murder should be assigned to the adult case, whereas some say that juveniles deserve juvenile treatment (Kaasa, Tatar, Joseph, Dezember & Cauffman, 2018). Mechanisms by which a case of a minor could be waived to an adult system of court include judicially controlled movement where some states demand that all juvenile cases must be transferred to an adult court. Second, statutory exclusion, where specific crimes are eliminated from juvenile court jurisdiction. Third, prosecutorial discretion transfers where both adult and juvenile courts have jurisdiction over certain crimes, and the prosecutor gets to choose. Fourth, once an adult, always an adult transfer, where minors continue being prosecuted in adult courts.
In conclusion, when a juvenile is moved into an adult court, he is denied protections that a juvenile jurisdiction provides. In my case study, the defendant would remain under the juvenile court if he was a minor and an adult court for being an adult. Transferring a juvenile into an adult court would result in negative consequences. The juvenile court mostly focuses on rehabilitation, while the adult court focuses is on punishment. In most cases, juveniles end up being assaulted in jails and prison by the adults that lead to psychological torture and undeveloped mental growth. Otherwise, both adult and juvenile court systems have similar rights, such as the rights of an attorney.

References
Drug possession and trafficking charges – Deferral of the sentence. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.criminal-lawyers.com.au/case-studies/drug-possession-trafficking-charges- 20190813
Jordan, K. L., & McNeal, B. A. (2016). Juvenile penalty or leniency: Sentencing of juveniles in the criminal justice system. Law and Human Behavior, 40(4), 387.
Kaasa, S. O., Tatar, I. I., Joseph, R., Dezember, A., & Cauffman, E. (2018). The impact of waiver to adult court on youths’ perceptions of procedural justice. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 24(4), 418.

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