Juvenile Offenders and Convictions

Paper Summary:

The paper argues that the United States faces a dilemma in that it needs to decide how to handle juvenile offenders. Currently, with some exceptions, each state and municipality sets its own rules and the rules vary tremendously. The paper shows that children as young as eleven years old have been tried and convicted as adults. Juvenile systems do not always respond effectively to the youth charged to its care. Probation practices also vary widely. The paper argues that when the criminal system cannot decide whether to charge many juveniles as juveniles or adults it should not be surprising that probation practices vary as well.

Paper Outline:
The Problem
Complicating Issues
Innovative Programs
Solutions
Bibliography

From the Paper:

"One of the difficulties in forming a plan to truly rehabilitate youthful offenders is that little systematic research has been done. In 2001, the Texas legislature attempted to determine the number of youth in their probation system who had mental health needs. They found that they could not determine the number. There are 168 different juvenile probation programs in Texas. They are not united under any kind of state program, and each probation program used its own system for assessing the needs of the youths under their probationary supervision."

More papers on Juvenile Offenders and Convictions:

• Essay # 48843 : "Literacy in Juvenile Offenders"
• Term Paper # 92953 : "Edmund Kemper and the Juvenile Justice System"
• Research Proposal # 129202 : "Juvenile Crime in Pennsylvania: General Deterrence Theory"

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