Criminal Justice System - Essay Example

Scott and Steinberg (2008) argue that adolescent criminal offenders should be taken through different sanctions and procedures from those of juvenile delinquents and the adult criminal justice system. They further state that adolescents require a detached alcove of procedures and sanctions instead of being put together with delinquent children who are much younger in the juvenile detention or on the reverse extreme, the adolescents being put through the same criminal justice system as the adults.

The lack of mental development and / or moral awareness in regards to their diminished cognitive capacity and ethical immaturity should not be used as an excuse to suggest that the adolescents are less liable and therefore their punishment in the event of a crime should be less harsh than the punishment meted out to an adult reprobate. One of the issues facing the justice system is the existence of a gap in terms of punishment to adolescent offenders, especially for extreme crimes such as murder.

Scott and Steinberg argue that the adolescent cannot be punished as a juvenile delinquent as this maybe too lenient while punishing the adolescent as an adult maybe also be too harsh. The justice system is then faced with a difficult decision as both of these punishments is seems inappropriate. For example, in a recent case of Graham versus Florida, Graham, 16 years old was found to have violated his probation terms by committing other crime. In the hearing, the court found Graham culpable of the previous charges, revoked his probation and sentenced him to life imprisonment without an option of parole.

In this case, the first ruling seems quite lenient in that the offender does not reform or cease to engage in criminal behavior but in fact seems to increase his engagement in crime. The second ruling of life imprisonment without parole seems to be too severe considering his was a non-homicidal crime and regarding his age, he would spend most of his life in prison. The fact that there is no national consensus on the punishment of criminal offenders between the ages of 14 and 18 years presents another challenge to the justice system in the US.

For example, in the case of Roper versus Simmons, Simmons had planned and committed a murder at the age of seventeen. Such a violent crime cannot go unpunished. At the age of eighteen, he was sentenced to death which is the punishment for adults. Whilst the evidence presented was overwhelming, the fact that he committed the crime while he was still seventeen did influence the reduction of his sentence from a death penalty to a life imprisonment. The justice process cannot resolve the crime while taking into serious consideration the age of the offender and hence this kind of information is useful and could be used by the juvenile justice policy and practice in their consideration while dealing with adolescent juvenile delinquents.

This is important because like in the case of Roper vs. Simmons, it was clear that the cognitive ability of Simmons at seventeen years old was developed to the point where he could plan and execute the offense (Scott & Steinberg, 2008). A premeditated crime is committed by an individual who understands that there are repercussions to his / her actions and knows what the law holds as criminal activities and hence the adolescent juvenile delinquents should be tried using the laws meted out for adults.

In the discussion of regulating children in America law, Scott and Stenberg mention the Bellotti v. Baid which can be used as a benchmark in trying to understand the responses of the society in regards to juvenile crime. Uniformity cannot be used and applied in all cases of adolescent juvenile delinquents because there are situations like that of mentally ill adolescents who should not be punished like other adolescent juvenile delinquents of the same age. ReferenceScott, E. S., & Steinberg, L. D. (2008).

Rethinking juvenile justice . New York: Havard University Press .