Question
| What are the advantages and disadvantages of informal juvenile courts? Please follow the article to write 1 page about the Question and use the sources from the book. PLEASE AFTER ANY INFORMATION YOU WRITE ABOUT USE THE SOURCE OF IT AND PUT “(” THEN THE NAME OF THE AUTHOR, THE DATE OF PUBLISHED AND “)” AFTER THAT FOLLOW THE THE STEPS TO DO THE Writing Reflection Paper |
Answer
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Informal Juvenile Courts?
Juvenile courts emerged at a time when America was grappling with youth crime and waywardness. Over time, they have undergone numerous changes, but the aspect of their informality has persisted. The court’s advantages and disadvantages, though the latter outweigh the former largely due to the due process rights violations that often arise from the informal approach used.
One major advantage of the courts is that they provide a solution for the thousands of indigent children who roam in large cities engaging in illegal activities. In this case, the objective of saving children from sinking into a life of crime while protecting communities becomes achievable. Moreover, their establishment changed positively the way communities dealt with crime perpetuated by children and adolescents. Additionally, jury trials in juvenile courts, which are allowed in some states, may aid rehabilitation (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). Jurors are not peers, meaning that they can be sympathetic to the youthful suspects particularly after reflecting on their own mistakes as youths as well as the mistakes of their own children.
Nevertheless, there are some disadvantages associates with juvenile courts. Firstly, a major concern has traditionally arisen in society, including among the child savers themselves, regarding the oddity of placing children in jails (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). Additionally, a persistent challenge remains unresolved in relation to the inappropriate punishments that are meted out in adult jails where some children are locked up. At the same time, the courts’ existence promotes the idea of the state’s role as a parent, which, according to critics, it cannot not accomplish well. Thus, it is not surprising that legal challenges on the role the state should play in children upbringing have been arising, making juvenile courts unpopular.
Evidently, informality in the operations of these courts may work out against children’s interests, whereby a child is wrongly accused and his/her rights violated. The informal system in place creates numerous opportunities for abuse. Despite many reforms, due process rights for children facing charges in juvenile courts remain limited. At the same time, debate on this issue often lead to a situation where political correctness tends to be promoted at the expense of children’s best interests. Together with budget concerns that have been raised due to operational inefficiency, the negative aspects of these outweigh the positive ones, and thus, the courts should be radically reformed or banned altogether.
References
Elrod, P. & Ryder, S. (2014). Juvenile Justice: A Social, Historical, and Legal Perspective, Fourth Edition. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
