Essay Sample on Juvenile Justice System

Introduction

The vocabulary juvenile can be traced from the Latin word 'Juvenis' which means young. A juvenile refers to a person who is under the age of eighteen years. Children are one of the most of a nation since they are the people to build the next generation hence their protection against any form violation. Juvenile crime is often deemed as juvenile delinquency which denotes the participation of a child in the act of violation of laws. Thus it seemed best to develop a court system which could handle issues concerning juvenile crimes.

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Historical Background

International Scenario

In earlier periods of 19th-century juveniles and adults were divide based on a small gap, the line could be drawn where the offender could determine their wrongfulness and children below seven years were seen as infants but were able to be found guilty of a felony that is a crime punishable by death or imprisonment. Children above fourteen years of age were deemed as to understand the wrongfulness and consequences of their actions, children above seventeen years were not easily classified and thus were treated as adults. From the time back up to now many evolutions have taken place especially in interpretations of the rights the juvenile possess while working through the business.

Indian Scenario

India has had a different history in the treatment of the junior offenders. From the 1790BC the responsibility of handling such cases was in the family, the periods between 1850 and 1919 had remarkable changes whereby the society was involved in juvenile cases. Some states in India have been able to pass Acts to govern how to handle junior crimes and up to current India has made remarkable improvements, and now all policies are followed in handling these issues.

Africa

Africa in large has made remarkable changes in children cases, and all issues regarding committed by children below age eighteen now can be handled according to the law. Between the 1960s and 1990s African looked upon their colonies to learn more on juvenile justice systems, since much has been done in this sector. For instance in Kenya, the Juvenile system concentrates more on rehabilitation, education rather than punishment (Odongo, G. O. 2004 ).

The court or Judiciary at large has greatly improved, and at this era, it is clear on how to judge, many nations worldwide have come up with Juvenile courts to teach the young generation that the law is above everyone and people have to do right at the right time and the right place. Thus according to me, the juvenile system has undergone important changes despite the challenges faced on the way it only needs to be adjusted and avoid any form of discrimination or biasness.

Workplace Culture in a Juvenile Justice Organization

International Justice has been a major goal the world is striving to achieve, and justice is for all be a child or an adult. In workplaces protection of human rights and the preservation of rules and regulations is mandatory thus workplace culture in the judiciary. In the juvenile organization, the working culture which depicts the way people run their daily activities is of great importance (Glisson, C., & Green, P.2006).

In the juvenile justice system, the cultural organization can be viewed in different dimensions, some of these dimensions include;distributive, procedural and interactional. Distributive cultural dimensions mainly are concerned with how the activities and works involved in this organization are assigned to various employees to ensure equity the workflow. Procedural involves ensuring that appropriate procedures and guidelines, it is required that all the stakeholders involved work as a team to enhance the success of this judicial system. Interactional is another important dimension; it depicts that people are different and every person have their own opinions and perceptions about the issues revolving around the organization (Study.com, 2018), despite working together there may arise conflicts to resolve this the organization has policies which help in conflict resolution. Various approaches are used in solving conflicts these are; process a curriculum which teaches young people on how to resolve their conflicts, peer mediation whereby peers stand in as mediator and the restorative justice plan is commonly used whereby the members involved in conflict sit down together, discuss and look for how to clear the conflicting issues.

Juvenile Justice System vs Adult Justice System

Question One

A criminal justice society is a way used to maintain order and certain standards within society (Colquitt, 2002). It includes comprehending, reproof, convicting and even reproach and prosecution. Violators of the law above 18 years old are tried in regular courts referred to the as adult court's justice system, juvenile courts were instituted to help in reproof of young offenders all below age 18. The processes involved in these two systems are as discussed below;

Court proceedings; while adults are accused of a crime, juveniles are accused of the delinquent act. Thus this means the infraction the minor is believed to have committed is seen to be of less serious. Since juveniles are not adults they are not subjected to public trial, and thus their cases are decided by a judge alone. However, there are similarities between juvenile courts and adult courts terms of proceedings whereby in both cases evidence is presented, testimonies are given, and witnesses are questioned (Study.com, 2018).

Aims; for adults when found guilty the court focuses on punishment but when it comes to the juveniles their courts mainly focus on trying to rehabilitate the minor rather than punishment, correction rather than jailing (Rutter, M., & Giller, H. 1983). While the adult courts focus more on jailing or posing heavy punishments to ensure no repeating of crime, juvenile courts focus on honestly preventing the juveniles from jails and prisons.

Bond availability; bonds are given to ensure that defendants are going to show up in court in the future hearings, bonds are only available to adults, and in fact, juveniles have no right to bonds. For juveniles, they only have bonds in circumstances when their case is such serious to be transferred to adult court (Rutter, M., & Giller, H.1983).

Arrest terminology and sentencing; adults are arrested, but for juveniles, totally different words are used to describe the event that is a juvenile is taken into custody and not arrested. Juveniles are not sentenced to severe conditions rather they are taken to centres where they can be helped, but for adults, they can be sentenced to death.

Question Two

Looking at the juvenile and adult justice systems in my view I see much differences, and there is a need to have a difference in how a juvenile is prosecuted comparing to adults. First juveniles are young and may commit crimes out of ignorance, also for juveniles it will not be fair to categorize them under the same judgements as adults since they have not matured well. Secondly, when it comes to a matter of crimes and issues of such kind juvenile's first need to be moulded from home and sometimes due to the negligence of the parents the youths have no option but to behave in an unworthy manner.

In the issue of differentiating the courts and having different ways of dealing with juveniles and adults as much their I such a difference, justice must be maintained, both classes should be taught of the law, the young need much to be taught from their homes and in schools and adults awareness should be created to them whereby the knowledge of their constitution should be passed to them.

References

Glisson, C., & Green, P. (2006). The effects of organizational culture and climate on access to mental health care in child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 33(4), 433.

Odongo, G. O. (2004). The juvenile justice system in Kenya and challenges to law, policy and practice regarding diversion. The Chronicle, 13(2), 6-11.

Rutter, M., & Giller, H. (1983). Juvenile delinquency: Trends and perspectives.

Study.com. Comparison of the Juvenile and Adult system. Retrieved From: https://study.com/academy/lesson/comparison-of-the-juvenile-adult-systems-of-justice.html