The American juvenile justice system is the most important system that takes care and handles minors who are sentenced of any criminal offenses. “The system is composed of a federal and many separate state, territorial, and local jurisdictions, with states and the federal government sharing sovereign police power under the common authority of the United States Constitution. The juvenile justice system intervenes in delinquent behavior through police, court, and correctional involvement, with the goal of rehabilitation.
Youth and their guardians can face a variety of consequences including probation, community service, youth court, youth incarceration and alternative schooling. The juvenile justice system, like the adult system, operates from a belief that intervening early in delinquent behavior will deter adolescents from engaging in criminal behavior as adults.”[1]
Case Law: “In 1944 in Prince v. Massachusetts for the first time, juvenile courts were regulated under the doctrine of “parens patriae.” This suggests the state could act as a parent. and juvenile courts have the power to intervene whenever court officials felt the intervention was in the favorable interests of the juvenile. Any offense committed was secondary to the offender. parens patriae was planned to deal with youth committing criminal acts, the discretion of this philosophy became increasingly broader and was constantly debated in court. Several pivotal cases ensued which helped the juvenile justice system evolve. Previously juveniles did not have the same rights as adults in court proceedings. A narrower range of rights was provided to them, and few constitutional rights applied to them. Now it’s started to change. The rights of a juvenile vary from state to state while U.S Supreme Court has ruled some rights in In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, which must be followed by every state.”[2]
“On the Rights of the Child the United Nations Convention, adopted in 1989, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, approved in 1998, have had a tremendous effect on the laws of many nations regarding juvenile justice. Their impact in the United States, however, appears to have been less. The United States is not significant to either of these actions and while American critics harshly condemn the reluctance of government officials in the United States to concentrate on these signed agreements, the statutes developed under the Rome Statute and the Convention appear to be referred to rarely in American courts. To be sure, limited cases can be found in which a United States judge substantively depended on these international treaties to resolve important cases in juvenile justice matters.
Magistrates in the United States do not, though, completely avoid these covenants. Few courts here have talked about them and, presumably, have been somewhat influenced by them as instruments reflecting customary international law. Still, American courts either adopt them only on peripherally related matters or conclude that because the United States has not ratified the actions, they are not binding on United States courts in either federal or state jurisdictions.”[3]
“A trend toward harsher punishments for juvenile offenders, including the death penalty, began in the 1980s. In 2005, however, the U.S. Supreme Court decided (Roper v. Simmons) to raise the minimum age for eligibility for the death penalty to 18 years.
A high proportion of cases involving juvenile offenders are handled informally by means of cautions or counseling. The procedure followed in juvenile courts is distinct from that of criminal courts. The juvenile court was originally founded as a coercive social-work agency rather than as a criminal court. Thus, juvenile courts normally have not been concerned with determining guilt or innocence so much as with making a finding of fact—that the juvenile is, for one reason or another, legally subject to the jurisdiction of the court. This finding of fact is comparable to conviction at a criminal trial in an adult court and is generally referred to as an adjudication. The adjudication of a juvenile as delinquent is the basis for a disposition, comparable to sentencing, in which either freedom in the community under supervision or confinement in a correctional facility can be ordered. In keeping with what was seen as the juvenile court’s role as a welfare tribunal rather than a court of criminal jurisdiction, procedural standards in the United States were formerly rather elastic. Most American juvenile courts also deal with cases of neglect or abuse of children as well as with criminal and status offenses committed by children.
Critics of juvenile courts in the United States have argued that, while they institute a rhetorical emphasis on children’s rights, they nonetheless ignore constitutional protections and ultimately fail to serve the best interests of youth. In this connection there has been much disagreement, especially in the United States but also elsewhere, over whether the traditionally informal nature of juvenile court helps or hurts children. Some critics have argued that juveniles have been denied the rights commonly afforded adult criminal defendants. Numerous legal challenges to juvenile-court decisions prompted criminal courts in the United States to extend some due-process rights to juveniles, most of which pertain to the adjudication hearing (the hearing that determines the facts of the case). Juveniles consequently gained the right to be notified of the charges against them, to allow the cross-examination of witnesses, to have an attorney present at the adjudication stage, and to be protected from double jeopardy and self-incrimination. However, due-process rights are often disregarded, and juveniles still do not have the right to a jury trial.”[4]
Youths are the beneficial resource of every country and it’s the responsibility of every country to make sure that they’re youths are protected. That they are rehabilitated. As such, every country treats their youth in different manner in comparison to the way adults are tried in cases. Mostly, in every case that involves a juvenile, foremost and even a common element that is taken into consideration is to check mental maturity of the juvenile offender. If it is proved that they had the basic understanding or that they were capable of distinguishing between right and wrong, then they are tried as adults. However, if the individual is not capable of comprehending why they did what they did. It is deemed excessive to sentence such a juvenile. Many nations have laws that define when a person becomes an adult. However, there are many gaps that need to be filed when it comes to juvenile laws.
[1] American juvenile justice system - Wikipedia [2] Overview of juvenile justice system in United States - iPleaders [3] Ibid. [4] juvenile justice - Continental Europe | Britannica
