Posted: August 1st, 2023

Juveniles verses adult arrestees

Instructions
The juvenile justice system is rooted in the principles of rehabilitation and the prevention of delinquency. Current research focuses on the relationship between family and children, and how parenting programs may help keep minors out of juvenile courts.

The first interaction of a juvenile who commits a crime or a status offense is with a police officer. The police must decide whether to take a child into custody, request that a child be detained following apprehension, or refer a child to the court. The decisions are made based on several key factors.
Based on an officer’s decision, a juvenile will enter the juvenile court process, which consists of the following:
• intake screening
• pretrial procedures
• transfer (waiver) to adult court
• adjudication
• disposition
• corrections/programs
o probation
o custodial care
o intermediate sanctions
As a juvenile detention officer, the local community college has asked you to be a guest speaker for the Introduction to Criminal Justice course. For this assignment, you will deliver a presentation about adult versus juvenile justice processes.
In your presentation, you should address the following:
1. Compare and contrast the major processes in adult and juvenile justice:
o arrest procedures
o court intake and screening processes
o trial procedures, including the duties of all participants
o sentencing options
o housing in detention/jail/prison
2. Determine if there is a difference in the recidivism rate of juvenile versus adult offenders. Explain your findings to your intended audience.

Support your assignment with at least three scholarly or professional resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources may be included.
Juveniles verses adult arrestees
Name
Institution

The juvenile justice system is responsible for holding youth offenders accountable for their criminal actions. The system deals with cases of individuals who are under the age of 18 years where most of the cases are tried in the juvenile specific courts. Upon arrest, a youth is screened by various individuals and organization who review their charges for legal sufficiency. The formalized court process is then used to form a commission of a criminal act that determines the type of intervention that is cost effective and makes to the needs of the particular youth. The intervention suitability and availability influence the outcome of the earlier decisions thus preventing further criminal acts from the offender (Richard,2011). One of the major differences between the juvenile and adult systems is the sentencing because most juveniles are tried specific courts. However, young offenders who commit very serious crimes can be tried as adults regardless of their age. Also, a juvenile offender that is tried as an adult is considered to have a full mental capacity to understand their actions and the repercussions. Some states consider that once a young offender has been convicted as an adult they will always be charged as an adult regardless of their age.
The juvenile offenders are different from adult offenders because of a range of factors such a the juvenile’s lack of maturity that may result from peer pressure, victimization, addiction or mental illness issues. The psychological factors are considered to entail a unique capacity for interventions and rehabilitation. Therefore, the juvenile court system focuses on rehabilitation and more sentencing options as compared to the adults’ courts. The juvenile systems focus on keeping the youth from further committing crime through diversions like community service and counseling programs (Richard,2011). The adult offenders are normally prosecuted for crimes as compared to the juveniles who are prosecuted for delinquent acts. The adult court system offers the right to trial by a jury while the juvenile courts do not have the right to a public trial by jury. Instead, the judge rules based on the evidence in adjudication that determines whether the juvenile has committed a delinquent act. The adult criminal system administers punishment to the offenders while the juvenile system takes appropriate action in the form of rehabilitation to the delinquent offenders (Taylor,2017). The juvenile courts are more lenient in their rules compared to the adult courtroom procedure.
The juvenile and adult offenders arrests differ but share a common goal of preventing repeat crimes to ensure that the individual becomes a productive and law-abiding member of society. The arrests procedures of an adult and a juvenile are similar because, in both situations, the arrests commence after the police officer observes the individual committing a crime. An arrest warrant is issued by a judge after a reasonable belief that the person has committed a crime. The police officer is under obligation to inform the offender of their rights hence protecting them against self-incrimination. After an arrest, the police are expected to execute a search on the person and their vehicle for any weapon possession (Richard,2011). The offender must be advised of the rights and charges to be made against them. The offender is then brought to the police station for the fingerprint and image information. Also, the offender is entitled to the right to a phone call after the police have completed the booking process. However, the children facing criminal charges can be under the supervision of the guardians during this process and they are given special treatment as compared to adult offenders.
When a young offender is arrested, the parents must be informed to accompany their child for questioning. The laws vary depending on the states, for example, in Florida the child may be questioned without the presence of a parent or guardian (Bishop,2006). However, if the child confesses during the questioning, the confession may be ruled out by the judge in the assumption that the child did not fully understand their constitutional rights. The adult criminal is entitled to an attorney during questioning as well as the young offenders who commit serious crimes. The juvenile offenders are held up for six hours before they are released into the custody of a relative or parent while the adult criminals are detained after questioning (Richard,2011). The police can detain juvenile offenders only if they have been previously convicted as adults. however, the juvenile offenders are held separately from the adult offenders in separate detention facilities as they wait for their court hearing.
The screening process at the juvenile systems is provided at the moment the offender gets in contact with the system. The screening is done at the earliest moment possible to identify the adolescent who is at the risk of being involved with serious delinquent behaviors such as drug addiction. The detailed screenings are followed by an in-depth assessment to determine the interventions to the problems identified so as to determine the appropriate referrals to community service providers. The process can be a complex task because the adolescents may have additional issues such as physical and sexual abuse that causes them psychological and emotional problems (Richard,2011). Issues of poverty, gang-related violence, and family difficulties are also some of the issues that can come up during the screening processes. The primary goal of the screening and assessment is to prevent young offenders from further getting involved in the Juvenile Justice systems. The screenings determine the patterns of use hence allowing the system to be aware of the youth’s confinement status.
The juvenile agencies involved are responsible for the welfare of the youth hence it is their responsibility to serve and address the issues of mental health. The decision makers are faced with the responsibility of determining if the offender is likely to repeat a similar offense in the future. Having psychologists in the staff and detention facilities allows the offender to be assessed at the point of entry into the system (Taylor,2017). The psychologists can provide a detailed assessment of the young offender’s risks of their aggressive behavior in further offenses. However, the process is extremely costly because more than 2 million youths are arrested each year and more than 600,000 are required to go through the juvenile screening and assessment services. Study shows that 70 percent of the offenders are often diagnosed with mental health disorder while the rest are found to have mental disabilities that impair their ability to function.
The trial procedures of the juvenile procedures differ from the adult proceedings because unlike the adult offenders, the youth offenders’ adjudications hearings are executed by judges. The juvenile individuals do not have the right to a trial by public jury, the jury of their peers or their right to bail. The juvenile system experiences shorter trials because the involved jury does not have to spend days picking up a jury. However, the adult criminal court lacks the extra protection provided in the juvenile court. Also, when the juvenile individual turns 18 their records are usually erased once the individual meets certain conditions to prevent their juvenile offense from interfering with their entire life (Taylor,2017). Before the adjudication hearing, the youth offenders are allowed to have the rights to notice their action before the adjudication hearing. Also, of their actions are non-violent, the young offenders have the right to an attorney and a free public defender. Unlike the adult court proceedings, the judges must follow certain guidelines before sentencing a young offender. The disposition must act in the best interest of the child. The adult criminal case disposition is administered to punish the offender when finding guilty. In the juvenile court, the child is considered as an adjudicated delinquent while the guilty defendant is convicted. The primary goal of the juvenile system is to rehabilitate and enable the involved children to live a productive life.
The sentencing options for juvenile delinquents involve house arrests where the judge can order the minor to be monitored at home in exception of daily activities such as school or counseling. The minor can also be ordered to remain under the care of a guardian or in a foster home. The minor can also be sent in a detention facility designed for short term stays. The judge can order the minor to the juvenile facility for a few months before being put on probation. However, the juveniles are not designed for long term stays. A serious offender can be sent to an adult jail or state prison (Bishop,2006). Moreover, the blended sentence option applies when the minor is ordered to serve time in both the juvenile and adult facility after the duration of time (Taylor,2017). The sentencing for juvenile offenders can involve incarceration options such as fines, verbal warning community service, and counseling. The sentencing for adult offenders differs because it involves punishments such as imprisonment. the conviction depends on factors such as custodial or non-custodial orders. Custodial sentencing orders involves the offender being sentenced to imprisonment while the non-custodial orders can senesce the offender to probation, fines or good behavior bond. The adult sentencing relies on the case or legislation laws depending on the individual circumstances of the case (Taylor,2017). This differs from juvenile sentencing because the sentencing process acts on the best interest of the child and not the legislation laws.
The recidivism rate of juvenile offenders is likely to be higher than that of adult offenders especially when the young offenders are prosecuted as adults. Prosecuting the young offenders is a pathway to future offenses. Research shows that when young offenders prosecuted in the adult court system they are more likely to commit crimes in the future. The juveniles can be deterred by the threat of being punished as adults, although, other studies argue that adult punishment towards the juveniles can give the youth a pause before they commit a crime. However, small incarceration in decentralized units may reduce the exposure to serious offenses thus reducing the rate of recidivism among the juvenile offenders.

References
Richards, K. (2011). What makes juvenile offenders different from adult offenders?. Trends and issues in crime and criminal justice, (409), 1.
Taylor, R. W., Fritsch, E. J., & Caeti, T. J. (2017). Juvenile justice: Policies, programs, and practices. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Bishop, D. M., Frazier, C. E., Lanza-Kaduce, L., & Winner, L. (2006). The transfer of juveniles to criminal court: Does it make a difference?. Crime & Delinquency, 42(2), 171-191.

Order | Check Discount

Tags: Masters Essays, PSY Papers, PSYC, Psychology Assignment, Psychology Dissertations