Juvenile Executions - Research Proposal Example

This paper is an overview of the juvenile execution system and how it came into effect. Here we shall discuss the history of juvenile execution and the first ever case held in the United States. We shall also discuss the argument regarding the execution of children and the behavioural pattern and social status which causes juvenile delinquency and their action and why is it necessary to abolish the entire system of juvenile execution. Introduction The juvenile system was set up with the motive of holding the juveniles accountable for delinquent acts that they had committed while providing treatment, rehabilitative services and programs that helped prevent future acts of law breaking and involvement in law violating behaviour. The juvenile system came into the picture in the year 1899 in Chicago, IL. The main reason for this system to come into being was that it recognized the harsh treatment the children received in the criminal justice structure. The court recognized that the child was different than adults in terms of cognitive development, impulse and emotional control and judgement capability. Therefore, in the matters relating to rehabilitative sense this court recognized the difference in development between the child and the adult. However, since violent crime had risen, therefore, they had been stronger policies and punishment. This shift included the waiver of more juveniles to the adult court system. This change brought about more juveniles committing capital crimes before they reached the age of eighteen. The punishment for this type of crime was either life imprisonment or death. However, according to international law the death penalty had been abolished for crimes committed below the age of eighteen. The Juvenile Justice Division which was set up has a strong place with the national leadership in the integrated work of child welfare. It helps by framing the national issue for the betterment in behalf of children, youth, families and communities. This division helped in promote alternative sentencing and program for juvenile crime. (Child Welfare League of America) The first child execution took place in the year 1642, when a sixteen year old Thomas Graunger was executed in the colony of Massachusetts for a crime of bestiality. This execution gave a way for others to follow and children of different ages were executed for crimes they committed. The youngest child was only ten years old. However, in 1944 when in the state of North Carolina a fourteen year old black boy, who was so small that they had difficulties tying him to the electrical chair was executed, then the issue was brought up regarding the morality of juvenile execution. The Supreme Court heard its first case in the year 1944. The case was Kent vs. United States. He wanted the juveniles to have a fair hearing, representation by a counsel, access to information regarding waiver decision and the justification of such waiver decision. The court had laid down certain guidelines for a juvenile judge to consider. They were as follows: The seriousness and the type of offense and the manner it was committed. The sophistication and maturity of the juvenile as determined by consideration of his or her home life, environmental situation, emotional attitude, and pattern of living. The juvenile’s record and history The prospects for protecting the public and rehabilitating the juvenile. (Child Welfare League of America, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) The United States leads the world in state-sanctioned juvenile executions. This indicates a shift away from the historical purposes of the separate juvenile justice system. Focusing primarily on the seriousness of the crime, without meaningful examination of the juveniles age as a mitigating factor, is contrary to the research-supported understanding that adolescence is a transitional period, when cognitive abilities, emotions, judgment, impulse control, identity, and the brain are still developing, and are developing in the context of families, kinship systems, and communities. (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) Let us now look at some arguments where many support the system of juvenile execution while many are in the argument that it should stop. Since 1973, when the era of modern American death penalty began, the executions of juveniles were derived from two trends which were: the increase in the waiver statues of juveniles to the criminal court jurisdiction and the other being the increase of execution system in adult criminal justice structure. People who argued that juvenile execution should exist claimed that the rate of crime committed by a juvenile was higher in the United States than in any other developed countries. In the year 1990 the adult crime rate was diminishing while there was huge increase in the crimes committed by juveniles. These people also argued that juveniles were portrayed by the media to lack conscience and were incapable to be rehabilitated even if the efforts were given. Political leaders who were for juvenile execution system, made the punishment harsher because they thought this step would help them bring in more electoral votes. The punishment that a juvenile is given is the immediate effect that a public can see and whereas if they are sent to rehabilitation program which is often for a very long time and also it expensive while execution is quick. On the other hand, people who were against juvenile crime claimed that almost al juvenile criminals have faced severe physical or emotional abuse and trauma during their life. These juveniles have the right to be a productive member of the society through professional treatment and counselling. Capital punishment does not serve any purpose if given to juveniles. The question about juvenile execution, in case a child commits a crime and is supposedly to be under the society’s protection comes into the picture. However, if punishment is to be given then a proper and more effective, preventive solution must be derived by concentrating the resources and building a proper bridge or partnership to strengthen the family, school and community resources available to every youth. Legal representative and lawyers also have their arguments regarding the stopping of juvenile execution. They laid down certain fact that shows the imminent ban on capital punishment for children. These facts include the international pressure to United States to conform with the international law regarding juvenile execution, the increasing pressure to the state legislative to stop capital punishment for those under eighteen and the declining rates of juvenile execution. The study of juvenile execution is incomplete unless the research of early brain development and childhood and adolescent behavioural development is also taken into consideration. Researchers have confirmed that the brain starts its development a pace from the day a child is born, to his or her first day at kindergarten. This research also shows the performance of the youth and the problems that confront them, their families long before they are even admitted to school. However, with the early development of linguistic and cognitive gains, juveniles showed a dramatic progress in their emotional, social, regulatory and moral capacities. These early developments can be compromised by many factors, such as poor nutrition, drug exposure, environmental toxin exposure, and chronic stress stemming from abuse or neglect. In fact, young children are capable of deep and lasting sadness, grief, and disorganization in response to trauma, loss, and early personal rejection. This factor mentioned here affects the child and his behaviour pattern in the environment that he or she is in. therefore, the purpose of this research is that it shows that juvenile punishment for person below the age of eighteen is pointless as the person is still undergoing levels of psychological and emotional development. This is the reason why Americans don’t allow any person below the age of eighteen to drink alcohol, serve in the military and even vote. A study was done by a criminologist who had studied the behaviour pattern of juvenile offenders and it was found that there was a higher incidence of neuropsychiatric and cognitive impairments among the most violent offenders including hyperactivity, impulsivity, attention deficits, and learning disabilities. So far, we have discussed the history and behaviour pattern of the juvenile offenders. We shall now discuss the alternative method to juvenile execution. The progress of better modes of sentencing and programs for juvenile offenders is a challenge due to the fact that there is less knowledge about this small population. Researchers need to do thorough investigation to assess of the population of juvenile capital offenders. If such method takes place then correctional facilities could more appropriately focus their budget on proper multifaceted rehabilitation programs while still affording maximum protection to society. The juvenile offenders are prone to various sentencing option, contingent on state statutory provision, the regional and national political environment and the calibre of the offender’s lawyer. Some cases of juvenile capital offenders are heard in juvenile courts while others are transferred to adult court where death penalty is inevitable. Some of the programs that can help juvenile offenders include the assistance of behavioural health, educational and vocational training, employment and other social skill building programs. However, the most important part of a program that is an alternative method to death penalty is the national focus on the prevention and early intervention in deterring violent youth crimes. This should focus early intervention of juvenile at risk of abuse, proper tutoring and mentoring them, good nurse home visitation and effectively implemented, comprehensive graduate sanction. The practise of sentencing juvenile to capital punishment has disturbing repercussion for our society vision of morality, notion of crime and punishment. It is against the international law which has put down that no one below eighteen is subjected to capital punishment. The court doesn’t understand the childhood and adolescent development. The society on the other hand, has accepted the responsibility of developing the youth for many years. Researches have conducted that juvenile who commit capital offense suffer from serious psychological and family disturbances. Their behaviour might be due to failed family, school and community support structure. Executing juvenile does not actually help the society in anyway neither does it work with the society’s traditional justification for applying in death penalty. If death penalty is given it means that the society assumes that the juvenile is aware of his or her crime and is held in full accountability for the same, therefore, they are treated in similar fashion like the adult and hence can also go into any legal contract like them. Also there is little proof that giving capital punishment reduces youth from committing further acts of violent crimes. It should also be understood that it actually more to execute a person than imprisoning him for life. (American Bar Association) The only reasonable argument to abolish juvenile execution is that it is against the international laws and also violates the state constitutional provisions. Abolishing capital punishment for juveniles would reinstate the rehabilitative juvenile justice system while allowing the nation’s leadership to hold a position in the area of international human rights. However, the legal sanction of death penalty by America for age sixteen and above is against two main principles of international law: international treaties and customary international law. There is a consensus between other international leaders to abolish juvenile execution. Therefore, going against this law prevents America to be seen as a leader for human rights. This decision implied that mentally retarded person be it a juvenile is exempted from the capital punishment. (Vincent) Some have the notion that death penalty indicates the discrimination against the poor who are not well off financially to have a legal representation. However, the philosophy of juvenile court was rehabilitation. This has now improved and new set of programs have into being such as new community intervention programs and treatments for underlying psychiatric disorders. However, millions are spent on incarceration and death penalty but not into methods and programs that can help early intervention that leads to juvenile crimes. Therefore, the American of child and adolescent psychiatry strongly opposes the imposition of death penalty for crimes committed as juveniles. Adolescents are cognitively and emotionally less mature than adults. They can be swayed by their behaviours and do not have proper idea about the consequences of the same. They have a tendency to show poor judgement. We have also noted that juveniles who have faced certain problems or abused show increase level of emotional arousal and tendency to overreact to apparent threat. Victims of child abuse and neglect are often seen in prison or who are in the death row. Researchers who have conducted studies of this type of population consistently demonstrate a high incidence of mental disorders, serious brain injuries, substance abuse and learning disability which may lead to violent behaviour. However, it has also been seen that these juveniles have not received adequate diagnostic assessments or intervention. Also national statistics have shown that African-American and Hispanic youths are disproportionately diverted into juvenile correctional facilities and waived to criminal court system. (Vincent) Therefore, what I have noticed during my research for this paper is that juvenile execution is internationally not accepted but the United States is the only one among few countries in the world that executes juveniles. They don’t consider the development of the child and also they fail to understand the reason why the juvenile has committed a capital crime. However, many people in the Unites are against the idea of juvenile execution and they have given their points which we have already discussed in this paper. The United States have, since 1990, executed ten person for crimes committed prior to age eighteen, Juveniles constitute approximately two percent of total death penalty sentences and as of June 1999, there were 70 people on death row for crimes committed at age sixteen or seventeen. The United States remains the only country in the world that has not yet ratified the UN Convention, Article 37a, which states that "Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age." (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) Juvenile execution is not a necessary form of punishment to be given to a child because he or she was unaware of the impact of their behaviour. They cannot judge by themselves whether the action taken was right or wrong, because their thinking power is not as much developed as the adults. The only way to stop them from committing a violent is that family members should notice any change in their child’s behavioural pattern whether it is psychological or emotional and early intervention is taken before the situation gets any worse. On the other hand, the execution of juvenile is opposing to the principles of the American justice system. There are many organizations that have taken a stand against the juvenile execution system. Some of these organizations are: The child welfare league of America, the children defence fund, the American society for adolescent psychiatry and many more. It is also to be noted that all children have the right to appeal to his or her judgement given by the court. However, appealing was not always a case for juveniles but today they have the right to a counsel and also appeal. (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) There are two ways that an appeal can be carried out. The first method id direct appeal in which is based on the evidence the court justifies whether the judgement given was done lawfully or not. The second type of appeal is the collateral attack, in which, the writs are used to challenge the decision of the lower courts. The writ which is used in many cases of appeal is the writ of habeas corpus. Since the first child execution took place there have been many changes in the juvenile execution over the period of years, however, the system of juvenile execution has not stopped even though it is not recognized by the International law and United States still continue with the execution of juveniles. The money that is spent on executing juveniles can be utilized in much better option such as implementing better ways to stop the violent crimes committed by children, better education and employment service for offenders and proper support from the community. As we know that these children are yet to develop both mentally and emotionally therefore, the society can be of huge help in transforming them. These children can be a part of the productive cycle of the community and of course they can improve with a little help from family and friends and even the law. Of course if the situation or the crime committed is very serious then however, a very harsh punishment could be given to the child so that he or she regrets committing the crime but it does not mean a capital punishment. (Child Welfare League of America) The court should consider the fact that juvenile execution won’t wipe out the crimes that many children commit. Therefore, before sentencing the judge should look at the history of the child and whether he or she was subjected to physical or mental abuse. The development of the child is an important factor and definitely sending them to death row will not be hard to the family of the victim but also it will be a loss. We should note that these children aren’t born criminals, the situation or environment that they live in turns them into one. Therefore, the whole idea of juvenile execution system is not a good form of punishment and many are now against it. After a couple of years we hope that we get to see a change in the system of juvenile law and that it does not involve the execution of children. As mentioned many organization are now fighting for the abolishment of the juvenile system entirely and they are hoping that they would succeed. Reference: 1. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: Juvenile Death Sentence.2000, Available at http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/policy_statements/juvenile_death_sentences (accessed on 6th August 2008) 2. American Bar Association, Juvenile Death Penalty. 2008. Available at http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/williams.html (accessed on 6th August 2008) 3. Child Welfare League of America, Juvenile Justice Publication: Juvenile offenders and death penalty. Available at http://www.cwla.org/programs/juvenilejustice/juveniledeathpenalty.htm (accessed on 6th September 2008) 4. Vincent, Felisha S. Juvenile Death Penalty, December 2002, Available at http://www.iejs.com/Juvenile_Justice/Juvenile_Death_Penalty.htm (accessed on 6th September 2008) Read More