Child Crime and Mistakes in the UK - Term Paper Example

Introduction Children imprisonment has become a common issue in England and Wales. Children are being imprisoned for every crime and mistake that they commit. Child crime and mistakes have also dominated media in these countries in spite of the fact that youthful mistakes are not supposed to be the outstanding news dominated by the media. This is because young people can indulge in mistakes unknowingly. Imprisonment may not be the best approach to the concept of child crime (Goldson & Muncie, 2006, p.67). This is because as a society, we want our children to be safe. We also wish to see our children being safe and protected. It is wish of every parent to see his/her children achieve their dreams as they establish other targets. It is with regret that even though children struggle to meet this target, their struggle does not materialize as they end up in prisons. According to Sevdiren (2011, p.43), England and Wales are the outstanding offenders of children rights despite the fact that they are among the countries that have the largest percentage of informed citizens. As a result, there has been a question on why Wales and England does not take care of the children rights. Even though England is one of the countries which are well developed, has highly educated populations, and has got developed institutions for person developments, it still has high cases of child imprisonment. England and Wales are capable of raising different support required for the child development. Due to this fact, there have been many efforts directed towards ending or reducing children imprisonment not only in England and Wales where children imprisonment is rampant, but all over the world (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Justice Committee, 2009, p.27). For instance, a research sponsored by the office of juvenile justice and the delinquency prevention, research by the national institute of justice and the bureau of justice statistics have helped to improve the knowledge for the juvenile justices. Other bodies researching on this issue of child imprisonment are the English department of health and the New South Wales department for the human services. The attempts to end children imprisonment in England and Wales are underway and the intensive developments are taking place. The juvenile justice systems in England have struggled for long time to end injustice done to children (Harding, 1985, p.256). They claim that their objective is to protect general public from any additional harm caused by the juvenile offenders. They do so by changing the lives of the youth from suffering, and also changing their way of living by imparting the focus in their lives and also altering their new targets. England has the highest number of children in the prison. It is followed by Wales which have a considerable percentage of young children perishing in the jails. In England, the city of Manchester is the outstanding city with majority of the children and youth imprisoned. It is followed by the city of Liverpool which has most children languishing in solitary confinement. The advocacy about the sample cities in England explain of thousands of children who are languishing in jail, either for the life imprisonment or for the long duration imprisonment. She narrates a story of the given statute that was established so as to abolish the drug smuggling in the city of London. This was mainly aimed at capturing major offenders of the law. Anybody who was found with over 650g of heroine was to be imprisoned a life sentence. She further explains the case of a 17 year old male who was caught in the possession of the same amount of cocaine. He was arrested, tried under the mandatory minimum law and was sentenced for life imprisonment. One sad idea about the story of Rochelle is that, the kid did not actually own the drug. Rochelle says that the drugs belonged to the man who was staying with the kid. She narrates that the kid was a school boy and Avery hardworking student but after his graduation, he was imprisoned a life imprisonment sentence for the scandal. This led to abrupt end of the big dreams and future of this boy for an offence that he did not commit. Akdeniz (2008, p.77), advocates about the injustice that happens in England. According to Akdeniz (2008, p.159), she also narrates the arrest of the fifteen year old student after one year in the city of Hullinghum, and this student, a girl, latter presented before the court. She was charged of being in possession of 650g of heroin. Rochelle says that the case was finally brought to light when the court declined to handle her as an adult. She says that the court vowed to handle her as a child and in so doing, it was realized that she was not the owner of the drug. There are many other instances in accordance to research where children are sent to prisons for offense which they did not commit simply because of lack of thorough investigation. As that as a result, there has been an increased need to punish drug traffickers through imprisonment instead of the courts to imprison innocent kids as shown by research. There is an urgent need for England and Wales to find the ways to reach out to the children, and prevent them against false allegations that have left many of them in prisons (Green, 2008, p.88). Instead of imprisoning children simply because they are drug addicts, children should be send to the treatment and correct form of counseling because this will help them to change their lifestyle life and start living normal lives. This is because imprisoning children for life without being given opportunity to be heard in courts is similar to destroying their lives. Shaw (2012, p.77) states that children are usually engaged in some crimes but in most cases, it is out of innocence. There different crimes or offenses that children are bound to do in England and Wales. For instance, there are some rude and indiscipline children in Hullinghum City who idles in the city doing several mischief. In England, children have been committing murder; they also own guns which they use for the robbery. However, these kinds of crimes are committed mostly by the children who dropped out of the school simply because they were rude. The city of Newcastle is the most affected with youth mischief and crimes committed by children (Lockyer et al., 2006, p.99). They rob people along the streets while they are armed. They are usually armed with guns, hand grenades, axes, pistols, machine guns, and some bombs. In Wales, children are the major user of drugs. Even though law prohibits the use of the illicit drugs not only in Wales and Europe at large, but all over the world, children do not obey the statutes that are in place (Boswell & Wedge, 2002, p.33). They are involved in drug abuse which destroys their lives. They usually use marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and many other drugs. The use of the illicit drugs is now the outstanding factor that have led majority of them to be detained. Most of the girls in England practice prostitution despite the fact that prostitution is illegalized in England. Even though, the strict laws and procedures are in place, they are not observed by the young people. Street robbery is practiced and facilitated by young girls. Theft is also mentioned and associated with children in London (Scott & Codd, 2010, p.111). For instance, there was one girl who entered in the house of the district commissioner and stole the electrical gadgets but unfortunately for the girl, she was arrested and tried in the court of law. The campaign against the injustice of children imprisonment in England and Wales and been started and is growing faster. A number of organizations are campaigning against this trend. Both the governmental and non-governmental organizations are merging up to abolish this practice. These organizations have a belief that child imprisonment is not a good practice and they want government to look for other alternative means which they can use to correct children involved in crimes and ones abusing drugs (Appleton, 2010, p.99). They advocate that children should be provided with a chance to polish up their future. In addition to these, there are people who are willing to help children to return to their normal lives and help bring to an end this practice of jailing young people. The practice is now being opposed by most people who are now realizing that the young people are the future of the kingdom of England. Furthermore, resources are now being channeled towards ending children imprisonment so as to ensure that children will no longer be wasting their lives and talents behind bars. Attempts to abolish juvenile jailing are in progress. In order to defend children imprisonment, governmental and non-governmental organizations are dedicated on establishing the rehabilitation centers that shall help to rectify the youth instead of jailing them for life jailing. The English common law was also formed by the authority of England and formed the basis of these attempts to hamper the youth in jail. This law requires that corporal punishment should replace children imprisonment in England (Dabydeen, 2004, p.9). If this law is implemented, children will no longer be sentenced for life imprisonment like initially where they were sentenced for life imprisonment without being given chance to defend themselves. In the city of Brussels for instance, the recent event of a youth killing an animal was handled as a mistake and the youth was released later from remand so that she can proceed with her studies. This fact illustrates a change as it requires the world to realize the minor issues that may drug behind development. We can also defend children imprisonment in England and Wales by amending laws regarding children crimes and children imprisonment. We should develop other means that will help change children without affecting their future dreams and ambitions. It was this fact that led Graham Array to move a petition in a court of law requiring the court to amend laws governing children (Summerfield et al., 2011, p.88). Graham Array told the court that it was wrong for children and youths to be suppressed by the laws of their own country. He then requested the court to revise laws and consider the welfare of the youth. The petition was that, sentencing children to life imprisonment was disastrous to the nation, family, and the youth themselves. The Supreme Court ruled out in favor of the youth and the petition went through. Hartjen & Priyadarsini (2004, p.444) stipulate that in addition, some private organizations moved in a court of law to launch a petition against children imprisonment. The following were their allegations and the subsequent outcome. The allegation was about the sentencing the youth especially the life sentence. The supreme ruled in June 2012 that children who were convicted of murder cannot be sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. Currently, the rest of England has the laws in operation. Even when children were to be jailed, the jury was requested to take their age in consideration. Furthermore, one young boy filed a lawsuit in England on behalf of five other boys who were sentenced to the prison for crimes that they committed when they were little children. The lawsuit charges that to deny the plaintiff an opportunity for release constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The hearing was done and the case was ruled. The attempts to abolish the suffering of children in jail are underway. In addition to amending laws governing child imprisonment, parents should be responsible. Poor up bring and lack of parental guidance is some of the factors that have led many children to be involved in criminal activities that have left many of them behind bars. Parents should give their children all supports which they need (Arthur, 2010, p.55). This is because majority of street children and imprisoned children due to drug trafficking or abuse have one or no parents. Government should also create specific places where street children would e raised and taught. This is because children are compelled to commit crimes by lack of homes/shelter, clothing and food. Hence, if provided with these basic needs, they will not be involved in criminal activities hence, preventing them from being imprisoned. In general, even though children imprisonment is rampant in England and Wales, there are many ways that it can be defended. This is because causes of children imprisonment are known and can be easily avoided (Bainham, 2003, p.277). Factors like drug abuse and trafficking, street robbery, murder, among others that are associated with lack of homes and proper parental care can be prevented. Parents should be responsible for the wellbeing and up bring of their children. They should ensure that their children have basic needs and teach them about the need to observe laws of the land. Bibliography Akdeniz Yaman, 2008. 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