Juveniles Without Parole
Final Research Paper
JS 152
Gerardo Curiel
San Jose State University
Abstract
In the United States there are almost 2,500 juveniles facing life sentences without parole for crimes they committed under the age of 18. There are still plenty of states that permit life without parole for juveniles with certain types of crimes. Throughout this research paper there will be included the pros and cons of juveniles serving life sentences without parole and being tried as adults. More information will be included stating why life sentences without parole for juveniles is unfair.
Introduction:
Is it fair for juveniles to be sentenced to life in prison without parole? Children as young as 13 can be sentenced to life in prison in the United States. Youths do commit crimes and they should be held accountable for their actions in regards to their age. In a nation where teens are too young to vote, buy cigarettes, or even serve in the army, are tried as adults and even sentenced to life in prison without parole. The United States has been sentencing juveniles to life sentences without parole for years. Meaning that they will die in prison for crimes that they committed before reaching their 18th birthday. Sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without parole is one of the most serious punishments for juveniles in the nation. The United States is one of the very few nations that allows juveniles to be sentence to life without parole. There are many factors that take part in why juveniles commit crimes. Juveniles also have a better chance of rehabilitation. Juveniles have the lack of mental capacity, the lack of experience, and the lack of education to be tried as adults. The United States should focus more on rehabilitating juveniles and equip them with skills they can use for when they get released. Locking the youth up forever is cruel, unfair, and unnecessary.
Background
Juvenile delinquency is a problem that has been occurring at younger ages within society at higher rates and more frequently (Lober, Farrington, Petechuk, 2003). The United States is one of biggest nations in the world, yet this nation still lacks justice within the criminal justice system. Childhood without Life, Life without Childhood: Theological and Legal Critiques of Current Juvenile Justice Policies written by written by Jonathan Rothschild explains how juveniles without parole exists in the United States. As explained in the article “The United States remains the only country that sentences child offenders to life imprisonment without the parole” (Rothschild, 2013). Life to prison is the second harshest punishment behind the death penalty. Yet, sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without parole, is basically condemning that juvenile to a slow death. According to some 2008 finding by the Human Rights Watch there are approximately “2,484 persons in US prisons serving sentences of life without parole for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18” (Human Rights Watch). These youths have to live in a harsh and cruel environment for crimes that they committed when they were teenagers. Although it does not excuse their crimes, sentencing these adolescents to life in prison without parole were failed by the system that is intended to protect children. A study shows that “teens that went to adult prison recommitted at a rate of 30% while those teens who went to the juvenile system was 19% (Talbot, 2006).
The goal of incarceration is to rehabilitate, but those who were incarcerated tended to recommit a crime than those who were just in the juvenile system. A study from Nellis shows that 61.9% of youths are not engaged in rehabilitation programming while incarcerated. Since the 1980s, the media have characterized juveniles to be unable to be helped by an unbroken juvenile justice system and be unable to rehabilitate (Pigatt, 2018). Out of 2,657 individuals serving life sentences 257 of them were juveniles according to study from The American Civil Liberties Union in Maryland.
When in the system, youth face challenges when attempting to maintain close relationships with family (Nellis 2012). Many of the facilities were about 3 hours apart from home which many of these juveniles hardly recieved any visits from family and half of them received phone calls. Basically this goes to show how broken families play a part in an adolescent committing crimes.
Troubling Homes
Juveniles commit crimes for a variety of reasons. These reasons vary from child to child. But although many of these reasons have different stories to them, many of them relate to one another in a way. Many juveniles incarcerated come from troubling homes and neighborhoods. One of the main factors that influences juvenile delinquency is the family structure the child is exposed to (Apel & Kaukinen, 2008). Family plays a big part in this. Family is supposed to be a big support system that is needed by people to gain the skills they need in society. The broken home theory is one of the most known theories and causes of juvenile delinquency. Young kids need guidance and protection from their parents, when they lack this guidance and protection the kid does not mature how it is supposed to. Studies show that family structure plays an important role in explaining delinquency between youth (Price & Kunz, 2003). Different types of family structure that these children are exposed to can have different major effects on their health and wellbeing (Wallman, 2010). Being said, children who live in non traditional households have a greater chance of experiencing negative outcomes and delinquency. (Price & Kunz, 2003). A youth with an unstable home does not have the same skill sets of those who do live in a stable home. In this study juveniles were surveyed all around the country and the findings were correlated with troubling homes. “A third (31.5%) of juvenile lifers were raised in public housing; Eighteen percent (17.9%) of the respondents were not living with a close adult relative just before their incarceration; some reported being homeless, living with friends, or being housed in a detention facility, treatment center, or group home” (Nellis, 2012). This just goes to show how adolescents are not naturally evil, they just lacked the support they needed their whole life. Punishing them for their crimes is okay, but sentencing juveniles to life would not.
Causes
Juveniles also do not have the same brain capacity as an adult, yet these kids are still tried as adults. As explained in the article, The Pros and Cons of Life Without Parole, most juveniles are mentally incompetent, meaning that their emotions and judgment capabilities are not yet fully matured and developed as an adult (Appleton & Grover 2007). These juveniles brains lack judgment and should not be thrown in jail for the rests of their lives. Even at the age of 18 the brain does not stop developing, the brain stops growing at the age of twenty-five. Having said that, juveniles do not fully understand the extent of their actions therefore should not be sentenced as an adult. A defendant who is incompetent is when the defendant lack the “sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and lacks a rational as well as a factual understanding of the proceedings”. In this case the juveniles brain is not yet fully developed lacking judgment which impairs the ability to have a fair trial. The juvenile will not have the sufficient judgment to interact with his lawyer as an adult would.
Juveniles are not fully capable of understanding their actions and the consequences that they will receive. Juveniles have a hard time understanding the seriousness of what the crimes are. During that time period of adolescence, they do not understand of what is right or wrong as an adult would therefore they should not be tried as an adult. Sometimes they know that what they do is wrong but in the back of their head they think they can get away with it, which is something that someone with the lack of judgment would think. It is understandable for an adult to be sentenced to life because they already have a fully developed brains and do not lack the certain qualities that many adolescents lack due to their age and inexperience, but sentencing an adolescent is not.
The text book Juvenile Delinquency in a diverse Society by Kristin A. Bates and Richelle S. Swan, include interesting theories about juvenile delinquency and why they commit crimes. Some of the few theories that they talk about are between micro-level theories, macro-level theories, and critical theories. All of these theories explain in depth on what can cause a juvenile to commit crimes. One of the theories that fall under macro-level theories is the anomie theories. “Anomie theories consider how society is structured, and how that structure impacts our ability to follow social norms (Bates, Swan, 2014). When youth tend to not follow these social norms in a form of deviance or delinquency, it is because there are certain things that are happening around that person's social world that leads that person into delinquency or deviance. As explained previously some of these kids environment that they lived in was not so pleasant. Some of these kids experienced violence in their homes or lacked parent support.
Solution
There are many different steps that can be taken to stop sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole. There have also been some cases in the past that helped prohibit sentencing juveniles to life in prison depending on the crime. For example, the supreme court ruling of Graham V. Florida (2010) banned the use of life without parole for juveniles who committed non-homicide crimes. Being said that certain crimes that are not homicidal will not sentence the juveniles to life in prison. In the Roper v. Simmons (2005) case, it abolished the use of the death penalty for juveniles offenders. These two cases similarly argued that these types of sentences violated the 8th Amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Although these two cases made great changes for the rights of minors there is still a long way to go for life sentences and adolescents being tried as adults.
Juveniles should always have a chance for rehabilitation. In order for a juvenile to have a chance for rehabilitation there should first be an understanding of what causes lead to to the kid to commit a crime. Since this is a growing problem topics of rehabilitation should be discussed. By knowing the problems and causes that lead youth to commit delinquency, you can start rehabilitating youth before they lead in the wrong direction. “The rehabilitative model focuses on the treatment of the offender with the assumption that interventions such as probation supervision, work readiness, training, cognitive skills training, and behavior therapy will change behavior and reduce the frequency of juvenile offenses” (Bradshaw & Roseborough , 2005). By doing so the youth will be equipped with certain skills they need to reduce their chances of committing any type of delinquency. Furthermore, rehabilitation is useful for many youths who do not get the support they need elsewhere.
Preventing juveniles from committing crimes should be started at a very short age. Such as “Early intervention and violence prevention programming. As a society we can invest early in the lives of high-risk youth to provide skills and support and thus alter the pathways that lead to crime” (Nellis, 2012)). Early intervention and programs can help eliminate delinquency between juveniles. Some kids do not have the support they need and by having certain programs that they can attend can change the views of these juveniles. With these programs these kids can be equipped with skills and support they can use in their life to alter away from crime. Rehabilitation should occur before. Intervening after the juvenile commits a crime is good, but intervening before is even better. Should not have to wait until the adolescent commits a crime to intervene. Most of the time these kids are sentenced automatically instead of sending help with these programs because the help is out there.
By eliminating the use of sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole does not necessarily mean that these offenders are escaping punishment. “Instead, this would involve adoption of punishments proportionate to the crime while considering an offender’s age, maturity, and capacity for personal transformation through rehabilitation” (Nellis 2012). There is a great chance that there can be a potential change of attitude between adolescents.
Conclusion
Juvenile committing crimes is increasing day by day and adult incarceration for juvenile offenders is also increasing. With that being said, juveniles are being punished harshly with life sentences without parole. The focus of this paper was to give focus on the problem with juveniles being sentenced to life in prison. Juveniles are being sentenced to life in prison for crimes they committed as teenagers despite the fact that their brains are not fully developed and lack poor judgment.
Bibliography
Appleton, C. & Grover, B, (2007). “The Pros and Cons of Life without Parole,” British Journal of Criminology.
Apel, R., & Kaukinen, C. (2008). On the relationship between family structure and antisocial
behavior: Parental cohabitation and blended households. Criminology, 46, 35-70.
Rothchild, J. (2013). Childhood without Life, Life without Childhood: Theological and Legal Critiques of Current Juvenile Justice Policies. Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, 33(1), 83-103. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23563067
Price, C., & Kunz, J. (2003). Rethinking the paradigm of juvenile delinquency as related to divorce. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 3, 109-133.
Wallman, K.K. (2010). Federal statistics: Understanding a crucial resource. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 631 (1), 22-24.
https://sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/The-Lives-of-Juvenile-Lifers.pdf
Pigatt, A. (2018). The effects of juvenile life sentences on family relationships (Order No. 10742749). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection. (1993479587). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/docview/1993479587?accountid=10361
Juvenile Delinquency in a Diverse Society
Loeber,R.,Farrington,D.P.,&Petechuk,D.(2003,May). ChildDelinquency:Early Intervention and Prevention. Of ce of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2-19. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from OJJDP database.