Alexis Palomares
Mrs. Sullivan
ERWC, Period 3
June 4, 2018
Hello, my name is Alexis and I will be opposing the argument of juveniles receiving rehabilitation for crimes they commit with punishment. Juvenile offenders commit delinquent acts that would be considered a crime if the same crime were to be committed by an adult, but since they are minors it isn’t looked at with much severity from judges, consequences wise. Juveniles are less developed emotionally and act more impulsive on others, but that does not make it justifiable to commit crimes such as murder and not be held responsible for it with no punishment, but rather rehabilitation. Juveniles should be punished for the crimes they commit, not rehabilitated, they chose to commit delinquent acts so they should serve the time in juvenile detention rather than rehabilitation. Society believes juveniles should be rehabilitated because punishment is too severe and they are just kids who don’t know the difference between right from wrong, but does society also realize that teenagers also makes decisions for themselves such as granting a driving permit or begin working at the age 16? On the website The Atlantic it is stated that, “On average, the U.S. sends 2 million children to juvenile detention every year, 95 percent of whom have not committed a violent crime.” The website also states that the breakdown of juvenile offenses in 2011, “There are more than 60,000 Americans, 18 years old and younger, living in juvenile detention facilities per year- each of whom cost roughly $88,000. Of this number, about 75 percent are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses.” This shows that majority of the offenses are non-violent, which would not need rehabilitation to prevent them from future crimes, but rather different types of punishment depending on the crime committed. Juvenile incarceration does not prevent delinquents from committing future offenses, but it can make the juveniles be put in a situation where they realize they don’t want to be locked away in a cell for the rest of their life, with no one but themselves. Juvenile punishment is better than rehabilitation because juveniles are protected from physical and sexual abuse from adult offenders in juvenile detention centers. Also, there are different types of punishments for juveniles depending on the crime committed. Rehab does not work for everyone and may not be necessary in some cases of crimes committed.
Juvenile justice should be punishment because juveniles are protected in detention centers with other deliquinents who are under the age 18, they are not at risk of being with adults and being sexually or physically abused. According to the website Legal Beagle, “Juvenile detention centers, like adult correctional facilities, vary in security levels and conditions. In a juvenile detention center, there is a greater emphasis on academic instruction and programs that teach young offenders new thought and behavior strategies to help them avoid committing future offenses.” This explains that juvenile detention centers have juveniles separated by the crime committed, sex, and even offer programs that help with behavior to help juveniles from committing future crimes all while still being in confinement. The pros of juvenile detention centers also include keeping juveniles from adult offenders, having a routine to facilitate rehabilitation, and specialized care with other juveniles depending on their situations. The cons of juvenile detention centers vary of the juvenile, such as losing connections with loved ones, become behind academically, foster institutionalization, and in some cases are more likely to be incarcerated again as adults. The cons are not discouraging, because it’s nobody's fault but the juveniles for wanting to commit such acts. Also stated on Legal Beagle was,” Approximately 75 percent of youth detained in centers are not considered public safety threats.” This basically states that majority of juveniles are not a threat to the public. Another website Impact Law shows data that, “Roughly half of all youth arrests are made on account of theft, simple assault, drug abuse, disorderly conduct, and curfew violations. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention statistics show theft as the greatest cause of youth arrests.” Majority of crimes being committed is theft, assault, drug abuse, curfew violation, and rowdiness are majority of the crimes being committed by juveniles, so do we really have the send them to rehab for stealing from a liquor store or another shopping place? We shouldn’t waste rehabilitation on delinquents with charges for assault, theft, curfew violations, it would be a waste of money to provide them rehab, when the treatment can go to another kid or adult to receive the help they actually need. Rehabilitation would not be necessary to be used in these crimes, punishment appears to be the best option for these delinquents, because they knew stealing was wrong.
In the article “Pros and Cons of the Juvenile Justice System, Lindsay Kramer contradicts rehabilitation with, “Regardless of the offender’s age, the victim still suffered, rehabilitation is not justice for the victim” meaning that the victims that are also involved in the crime the juvenile committed suffered the experience. This would come hand in hand with serious crimes such as sexual assault, rape, murder, drunk and disorderly conduct, arson, robbery,etcetera. As for rape victims and families of those who were murdered by delinquent would also benefit punishment rather than rehabilitation because the delinquent will remember being locked up and rotting in a cell, away from society, wasting their youth and it would help juveniles stay out of trouble by remembering the time sent in juvy and not wanting to go through it again. Judges must remember the victims when sentencing juveniles for punishment, victims or the victims families also have to deal with the offender, they’d rather see the suspect suffer for his crimes, than to receive help, put yourself in this family’s situation, Jennifer jenkins volunteers and shares her story with youth offenders at Cook County juvenile probation program, so that judges can remember the victims of violent crime by juveniles. Jenkins 25 year old sister, Nancy Bishop Langert and her husband, Richard Langert were murdered by 16 year old David Biro. He killed not only 2 innocent people, but also an innocent unborn fetus. David Biro was a privileged teeanger who grew up in the Chicago Suburbs, he had this crime planned for weeks and executed it by himself. His previous crimes before the murder of the Langert family consisted of shooting out a car window with a BB rifle, setting a girl’s sweatshirt on fire during school,he had never faced any legal consequences because his parents always bailed him out. He shot Richard Langert in the back of the head once and fired into Nancy’s stomach and left her to bleed to death. She died laying next to her husband and left a message of a heart and “U” in her own blood. Biro had told his friends it was a thrill kill and it gave him a rush, he wanted to see what it felt like to shoot someone. He was charged with life in prison without parole. Now say this was your sister, brother, or someone close to you, wouldn’t you want this killed to be punished for life and not recieve rehab so he can seek treatment to later come back into society? You would want him to suffer for all the pain he caused you. Juveniles should have a long term evaluation before being able to rejoin society. Consequences help people learn from their mistakes, they help people change and grow. If delinquents face the consequences now, it could help prevent them from committing more crimes, instead of wasting their life in a cell. The sentencing of a juvenile should focus on the safety of the public and prevention of future victimization, not just on the offender.
There are also different punishments for different crimes committed by juveniles, not just being sent to a detention center. Sentencing options fall into the two categories, incarceration and non-incarceration, depending on the minor’s criminal record and the severity of the crime. Attorney Matthew Willin explains the incarceration options for delinquents can be, “Home confinement or house arrest in which the minor to remains at home with certain exceptions for places such as school and counseling visits, Placement with someone other than a parent or guardian: The judge orders that you live with a relative, or in a group or a foster home,Juvenile hall: You are ordered to stay in a juvenile detention center for a short term,Probation (after juvenile hall): You may be ordered to stay in a juvenile detention facility for a few months and then be put on probation,Secured juvenile facilities: For more serious crimes, you may be sentenced to stay in a secured juvenile facility for a longer period of time, Adult jail: In a very serious case, you may be ordered to spend time in an adult county jail or state prison, Blended Sentence: In some jurisdictions, the juvenile court can order that you spend time in a juvenile facility until you are 18, then transfer to an adult jail.” He also explains other punishments that are non-incarcerated include, “Verbal Warning: The judge simply reprimands you verbally, Fine: You are ordered to pay a fine to the government or to the victim, if any, Counseling, Community Service: As your punishment, the court may ask that you complete a certain number of hours in service to your community, Electronic Monitoring: You are ordered to wear a wrist or ankle bracelet at all times to verify where you are for a certain period of time, Probation: You may be assigned certain conditions that you have to meet, including attending counseling, meeting curfews, avoiding certain individuals (such as gang members) and completing anger management classes. In this case you will be assigned a probation officer who reports back to the court. If you have violated the terms of your probation, you can receive a harsher disposition order such as incarceration.” The more harsher punishments on juveniles who commit crimes will help them learn from their mistakes and prevent them from committing more offenses. Children learn better with discipline rather than none at all, just telling a child they are wrong and made a mistake does not help them in anyway, the way to help them would be to discipline them so they know the consequences of doing something wrong and not do it again. Juveniles more or less know that theft, using illegal substances, assault, and other crimes are wrong, they knew there would be consequences, so they must face the consequences. For example those who commit the crime of theft should not be left with a verbal warning, they should punished and placed into juvenile hall for committing the crime. Juveniles also have a lighter sentencing than adults who commit the same crimes as they did. In juvy, adolescents are let out at 18 with a clean record unless a serious crime like murder was committed, then they would be transformed to an adult correctional facility. In the long run, juveniles can benefit from the punishment because they will realize they don’t want to spend the rest of their life behind bars in a 4 by 6 cell. Lindsay Kramer explains that “Incarcerate minors tend to repress memories of their crimes, rather than feel remorse for them.” When incarcerated juveniles are in their cell, they can replay the crime in their heads and the moment they are finally out and step back into society, they’ll remember all the thoughts that ran through their head and how it felt being locked away, isolated from society instead of living their youth. They’ll realize they wasted their youth and not want to waste anymore time of their life in a cell.. Juveniles should be held accountable for their actions and deal with the consequences. Punishments vary on the crime committed which also is why juveniles have specialized care depending on specific populations.In California, juveniles are assigned in living units that are based on age, gender, risk of violence, and special treatment needs.
Rehabilitation for every juvenile will only cost us taxpayer money to pay for the programs, such as substance abuse help, mental help, etcetera. Not every juvenile will need rehabilitation either, for example, if a kid robbed a liquor store for candy, he does not need rehabilitation. He just made a witless choice, like every teenager makes at least once in their life. In the article, How to Turn Around Troubled Teens, Scott Lilienfeld claims, “adolescents with conduct disorder often enter treatment angry and alienated, harboring feelings of resentment toward authority. Get-tough programs may fuel these emotions, boosting teens' propensity to rebel against parents and teachers. Finally, some programs may inadvertently provide adolescents with role models for bad behavior.” You cannot help someone who does not want help either or seeks for help, such as teenagers who drink and do drugs, they are not going to want help for something like that, unless they want it. Forcing these juveniles to go to a rehabilitation program can also backfire, instead of wanting to get better and seek treatment, they are going to rebel and ignore the help they are receiving. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want help. If someone wants help, they’ll ask or give signs they want help. Many youth are closed off with strangers and need time to actually open up and speak of the conflicts going on in their life. Each child is different. It seems as if rehabilitation is used rather as a punishment than an actual treatment, children are easier to convince, and mold into new and improved, unlike adults. Another thing, people do not realize is that prosecutor Kurt Kumli advisies, “ Juvenile rehabilitation is an art and not a science. What works for one kid may not work for another. And so what you try to do is to do as many things as possible, hoping that something works. Juvenile rehabilitation might be a lot like taking swings at a piñata. And the more swings you take, the better the chance is that you will hit it right and something will come out.” Rehab does not work for everyone, kids experience different ways of learning such as in school,some kids learn better by themselves rather than by a teacher, some can learn through a book and some can learn with hands on experience only, just depends on what’s best suits one. Rehabilitation could help reduce crime and save taxpayer money, but where would the state get the money for all the rehab programs,rehab isn’t cheap, and depending how long the juvenile needs rehabilitation also brings to question, how much will it really cost for us to rehabilitate one delinquent when they need more help than another? Rehabilitation just like punishment cannot determine if the delinquent will commit another crime, they can always relapse and go back into old habits with punishment or rehabilitation. In conclusion, Whether a juvenile receives rehabilitation or punishment, they will walk back into the real world one day when their sentence is over and learn again how to survive the one thing everyone else does, which is life. Thank you for your time, I now stand for questioning.