Fair Here, but Stupid There

Fair Here, But Stupid There

As a teenager I was arrested three times and never learned my lesson. The first time I was arrested, I had to go to family court. Their, the judge would threaten me not to get in trouble again or I would end up in a detention home. The next two times, I was threatened to be sent off to a detention home again, but they still didn't send me anywhere. The point is that the youth is the future, and if they never learn at a young age then they may never learn.

The justice system is to blame, and it needs to be changed. There are so many cases where you see juveniles go off unpunished. Another problem I have is seeing people with wealth and big time lawyers get off with less punishment, as opposed to people who can't afford a good lawyer. The justice system needs to crack down harder on juveniles and become more fair toward all social classes.

Morgan Reynolds from speakout.com states

Abolish the juvenile justice system. Stop seducing youths into a life of crime. Equal justice for all. As Wisconsin Judge Ralph Adam Fine pointedly says, "we keep our hands out of a flame because it hurts the very first time (not the second, fifth or tenth time) we touch fire.(1)

This is one of four things Morgan thinks "would strengthen external restraints on criminals"(1) and I agree. I don't think the system should be abolished completely, but the system should be modified significantly. If you look at the numbers provided by John R. Schafer, it will tell you that 6 percent of juveniles commit more than half of the crimes in America (2). Therefore, if their punishment isn't taken serious they will never learn and our crime rate will not decrease. So if you teach the juvenile delinquents a lesson with harsher penalty they might commit less crime. Evidence of this theory can be linked to a survey. Schafer states, 61% of juveniles answered no to the question, "if you knew your prison sentence would be doubled, would you commit a serious or violent crime?" And 21% answered maybe, while only 18% said yes(2).

If I were to be asked that same question I would definitely join the other 61% of those kids and say no. Like I mentioned before, I was involved with the law as a juvenile. So because the judge never sentenced me to a real punishment I never learned my lesson. Therefore, when I became 18 years old I continued to break the law until I got arrested. At court I was given an option to serve 7 days of prison or 250 hours of community service. It was from that moment on I decided to get rid of my bad habits. I believe if I was punished as a juvenile I would have learned my lesson earlier in life.

If you completely abolished the juvenile justice system it would be cruel. Due to the fact, young kids may be easy victims for harassment in adult prisons. I was able to speak on the phone with my cousin Erick, in which who is a prisoner at the Halawa state prison, and he agreed, children would not last in the prisons. He also pointed out that nowadays prison offers a bit more protection from harassment than it did a while back. (Phone interview Peiler).

In my opinion, a good solution be to bring the juvenile age status to 16 and be more strict of the people under 16, you might see an improved system. Another good alternative could be to send the juveniles to the same prisons as the adults