Juvenile and Adult Corrections

The correctional system we have in the U.S. aims to keep crime out of the streets. When it comes to juveniles and adults there are very significant differences in how they received help during the time served within the system. We must take into consideration that the age of an adult in the United States is 18, and more often than not, this is where we have to decide if he/she will be convicted of a crime as a juvenile or as an adult.

If a juvenile is being tried in juvenile court and is convicted there, they cannot be placed in adult facilities until they are legally an adult. This makes an immense difference when it comes to suppression of future crimes, rehabilitation, and length/type of sentence.

It's widely known that all correction systems use incarceration as punishment for offenders. Rehabilitation is often the key concept in juvenile corrections, and not adult corrections. Incentive programs are always offered for adolescent criminals.

Services found to be effective in juvenile justice include: programs that reduce violent incidents; programs to increase academic achievements; five hours of academic instructions; restructuring programs as well as helping young people to understand and think about the errors that put them in those positions in the first place.

This kind of care is not fully available in the adult correctional facilities used for prisoners and detainees. Juvenile detention centers are usually ran in the same way as a prison or jail. Strict schedules codes of expected behavior as well as punishment for misbehavior. Another reason the system places juveniles separate from adult criminals is so that they don't give them any bad influences as protection in order to change that criminal state of mind before they actually become adults.

Main reason for all these measures is to successfully prevent crime. I was a trouble teen at one point myself and for a short time I was in the juvenile corrections system. From personal experience I can safely say now that programs available today for juveniles really are set for a greater purpose and not only for punishment.

Juvenile courts are very different from criminal courts. The language used is less harsh, they accept petitions of delinquency rather than criminal complaints, what would be a trial for an adult they call a conduct hearing, and lastly they adjudicate juveniles of being delinquent rather than find them guilty of a crime. Adults begin criminal justice processing only through arrest but juveniles on the other hand can be referred to court by law enforcement agencies, parents, school, victims and many others.

Under certain circumstances, juveniles may be tried in criminal courts. The