Student

As I finished reading Barry Feld’s article “Abolish the Juvenile Court: Youthfulness, Criminal Responsibility, and Sentencing Policy; I have found out that there are lot of insightful, interesting, and it’s filled with strong points about the current problems with juvenile justice system. This article is well-known, controversial, and heartless when it comes to juveniles. This article contends that the juvenile justice system has been in place since 1899 which it should be abolished, and juveniles should be tried as adults in adult court. Some arguments against the equal treatment of adults and juveniles in criminal court, Barry Feld think that juveniles are different from adults and that the “sound bites” such as “adult time for adult crime” are wrong. As we follow further this essay, we would explain weaknesses and strengths, along with why or why not the decision was made, and why this article addresses mostly juvenile’s justice system.
According to Barry Feld’s article he stated that “juveniles should be tried in adult courts and juveniles should receive special sentencing that takes their youth into account”; which this would not just be a case by case instance; rather, it would be categorical that someone aged 14, 16, or 18 would depend on their sentences, which would be based on their age and their culpability. Also this article depends heavily on scientific study that demonstrates that juveniles are not like adults, which mean they should be treated differently but given sentences as adults. I think that juveniles should be given harsh sentences to make them listen and understand the crime that they committed. Juveniles are usually the first to be susceptible to group-think, and are less able to understand risk, and they cannot appropriately gauge repercussions.
As Barry Feld stated “a general sentiment of juvenile justice system is not working properly, and that it was intended in 1899 to be combined social services provider and rehabilitative agents”.