Paper on Juvenile Crime
Anait Asatryan
University of Phoenix
December 7, 2014
CJS/200

There are many similarities between juvenile court and adult court, and there are also differences as well. The same process for booking applies for both, but the main differences are their constitutional rights, sentencing options vary, and the terminology used differs in juvenile court than adult court. Adults are given more constitutional rights, than a juvenile in court. Adults have the right to have a trial by jury of their peers, but a minor in juvenile court do not have that right. Despite our best efforts to prevent youth from committing crime, some youth will become involved in the juvenile justice system. Juvenile crime is one of the nation's more serious problems. The local government, federal, states officials and also the majority of the public also share this concern. There have been many studies conducted throughout numerous states that have shown us in multiple areas of poverty the kids are more likely to commit crime and also a sufficient concern has grown among the public for rise in physical violence. Many states are beginning to take a tougher approach towards juvenile crime nowadays. In my opinion juveniles that commit crime at the age of 15 and over should be tried as an adult no matter what the crime is. I know I sound very harsh but if they are old enough to know what they are doing then they should be treated like and adult. According to a study conducted and published in 2006 edition of Current Population Reports published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, there are more than 70 million children under age of 18 in the United States, that make up 25 percent of our U.S. population. This is more likely to exceed by 80 million by the end year of 2020. What this numbers us is that diversity of the issues affecting children in this country and crime will exceed especially among the this risk are children raised in poverty who fall into the juvenile justice system. There is not too much of differences between a juvenile court and an adult court. Here are some of the differences. There is significant difference between state to state in how they handle juvenile cases but in general Juveniles are not prosecuted for the committing crimes, but they will be for delinquent acts. When their delinquent act serious enough then they may be consider the crime and the juvenile may be tried in the adult system. Juveniles don't have a right to a public trial by jury unless they are tried as an adult. For a juvenile charged with a crime, the trial portion of the case involves the judge hearing evidence deciding if the minor is delinquent. This is called an “adjudication hearing”. Once the juvenile has been found delinquent, the judge /court will then decide what his or her discipline is and what action will need be taken. In the adult court, the goal is to punish the criminal, but for the juvenile system, the goal is to rehabilitate and do what is for the best interest of the miner. One major difference between the two courts is what they are striving for. For the juvenile justice system, the main goal is to rehabilitate and reform the juvenile offender so that they can continue functioning normally in society and to try to be a better person. And the main focus is more on finding other sentences that keep the young criminal out of jail, such as probation, parole, and other programs. Then there is there other side of the both court system, which are the same although the two have a great deal of differences there are also similarity too. Criminals in both systems have these rights: The right to an attorney, the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses, the privilege against self-incrimination, the right to notice of the charges, The prosecution must provide proof beyond a reasonable doubt before a person can be convicted The definition of delinquency: is when a