Should Juvenile Offender Be Tried As Adults Criminology Essay

Should Juvenile Offender Be Tried As Adults Criminology Essay Psychoanalysts have different theories and opinions. It does not matter if one looks at the theories of Jean Piaget or Erik Erickson, it is agreed that there are different levels of growth and development as a person ages. One does not reach full physiological and psychological maturity until adulthood. During the adolescent or juvenile stage of development, the brain and body continue to grow and mature. The brain is still developing and a person can still develop the cognitions to learn between right and wrong (Feldman, 2011). Trying these young offenders as adults and subjecting them to the way of the criminals they will come in contact with in adult prisons, supplies them with a society that will teach them skills needed to survive in a criminal world. If they are held in juvenile detention centers and provided the rehabilitation that is offered to them at that level, they have a better chance of learning right from wrong, repaying a debt to society for crimes committed, and beco ming a productive member of society. When a juvenile offenders commits an offense there are different guidelines that each state must follow when deciding to try as a juvenile or an adult. Depending on where the responsibility for the decision lies these guidelines will fall under one of three categories; judicial waiver, statutory exclusion, or concurrent jurisdiction (PBS, 2012). Judicial waiver means the juvenile court judge has the authority to send the case to criminal court rather than have it tried in the juvenile court system. This process is also knows as certification, remand, or bind over for criminal prosecution (Griffin, Addie, Adams, Firestine, 2011). Statutory exclusion means that a case starts out in criminal court rather than juvenile court. The juvenile court system is bypassed completely even though the offender is a juvenile. This is also known as legislative exclusion (Griffin, Addie, Adams, Firestine, 2011). Concurrent jurisdiction means that both systems work together and the prosecutor decides which avenue is the appropriate avenue for prosecution. This is also known as prosecutorial waiver, prosecutor discretion, or direct file (Griffin, Addie, Adams, Firestine, 2011). Laws started changing the way juveniles are handled in the 1980s and 1990s. For example, in Massachusetts, in 1990, Governor Dukakis signed a law into effect that stated that instead of the burden being placed on the court system to decide if a juvenile was to be tried as an adult, the burden of proof now was shifted to the juvenile to prove why they should not be tried as an adult (Kingsbury, 1990). The purpose of trying juveniles as adults is to impose harsher sentences in hopes that the fear of the harsher sentences will make juveniles think twice about committing the crimes but studies are showing that this is really not what is happening (PBS, 2012). Guidelines that govern the justice systems came into play in 1974 when the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act were enacted. Since its origination there have been many attempts, successful and not, to amend it. It sets standards for state and local juvenile justice systems, provides direct funding for states, research, training and technical assistance, and evaluations. It was put in place to protect youth (Center for Childrens Law and Policy). States that have no minimum age requirement to be tried as an adult are Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin (PBS, 2012). States that have a minimum age of 10 are Kansas and Vermont (PBS, 2012). States that have a minimum age of 12 are Colorado, Missouri, and Montana (PBS, 2012). States that have a minimum age of 13 are Illinois, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, and Wyoming (PBS, 2012). States that have a minimum age of 14 are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia (PBS, 2012). The one state that has a minimum age of 15 is New Mexico (PBS, 2012). One side of the argument is that juvenile offenders that are tried as adults, do not receive the rehabilitation that might help them and they only learn more from the criminals they are housed with and are returned to society as even worse offenders. Treating children as adults and not trying to teach them to become more responsible adults, society is not allowing them to learn from mistakes that are being made as a child. The other side of the argument is that by treating them as children and not subjecting them to harsher punishments, society is teaching them it is ok to commit the crimes and that they will not be held responsible at the same standards an adult would. There is hope that the fear of a harsher sentence would make a juvenile think twice about his actions and consider the harsher consequences. Over time, multiple studies have shown that there is little or no decrease in crime when juveniles are tried as adults and often show that the number of repeat offenses is higher in those, whose cases were tried in adult criminal court. A Florida study looked at reoccurring or repeat offenders among 2,738 juvenile offenders. It compared juveniles who had been processed in criminal court for mid-range offenses such as auto theft, assault, and robbery with a matched group of offenders that had remained in the juvenile system. To ensure and even match, they were matched in terms of offense, number of charges, prior record, race, sex, and age (University, 2007, p. 21). Short term study results showed that juveniles who went through the adult system were rearrested more quickly, were more likely to be rearrested, and were arrested more often for a more serious felony offense than those that remained in the juvenile system (University, 2007, p. 21). Two studies were completed comparing 16 and 17 year old offenders in New York City, who were processed in the adult criminal system as opposed to 16 and 17 year old offenders in New Jersey who remain in the juvenile system. The first study in the early 1980 compared 400 offenders who had committed first degree burglary and 400 first and second degree burglary offenders. Those juveniles that were put through the adult criminal system in New York were found to have higher rearrest rates, higher rates of reincarceration and shorter times between being rearrested (University, 2007, p. 22). The second study was completed in the early 1990s in the same locations using over 2000 juveniles that faced charges of robbery, burglary and assault. Again the results showed higher rearrest rate for violent crimes and a higher rearrest rate for felony property crimes (University, 2007, p. 22). In this last study there was one difference. Juveniles that were prosecuted in juvenile court for drug offen ses were more likely to be arrested for drug offenses than those processed in the adult criminal courts. On a larger scale, in 2006 a study was done comparing monthly violent arrest rates for 5 years prior to and after the laws were enacted to try the juveniles as adults. The study did not show a reduction in the overall rate of violent crime after the enactment of the laws. In 20 of 22 states there was no decline in arrest rates following the enactment of the laws. The state of Maine showed an overall decline for violent crimes and Wisconsin showed a temporary decline (University, 2007). Another study found that mixing juvenile offenders with more serious offenders in adult prison worsened the serious of their offenses as well as the length of their criminal careers (University, 2007). As the majority of studies show, prosecuting juveniles as adults is not a deterrent for crime. It only gives them knowledge and the skills to become more adept at the crimes. To understand the reasoning for this, one would need to look at the brain and the learning patterns of the human race. Most states have minimum age requirements for an adolescent to be tried as an adult, as stated above these ages vary from 10 to 15. During these years, the adolescent is still maturing and learning from the environment around them which can help shape the person they are to become. A person does not fully mature until they reach adulthood (Feldman, 2011). Society has two choices. A juvenile can be incarcerated and handled in the juvenile system, that is set up to help them learn from their actions and rehabilitate them to becoming a functioning productive member of society or they can be processed through the adult system; where they can learn from other criminals how to better their skills as a criminal and not receive any chance of rehabilitation. They will then be returned to society to practice what they have learned during incarceration. There are instances that should be reserved to be handled only in the adult judicial system. The crime of murder should be punishable as an adult because of the severity of deliberately taking another personà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s life. A person that is capable of deliberately taking another life, regardless of age is not capable of rehabilitation. There are cases of self-defense and accidents that would not be considered deliberately taking a life and should receive case by case consideration. Another case that should be tried as an adult is a case involving deliberate physical assault or injury. Again, if they are to the point they can deliberately cause physical harm and injury to another, they are most likely past rehabilitation and need to be handled as such. Take into consideration a young male or female that has never been arrested or even so much as received a parking ticket, this adolescent ends up at the wrong personà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s house and there is a party. Succumbing to peer pressure, this honor roll student drinks a few too many beers and rides along with a group of kids that have a criminal past and they break into a closed business. They are apprehended and all are taken through the adult court system. This previous honor roll student now has a felony record and cannot get the job they had in their future plans, they cannot register to vote, they cannot possess a gun and go hunting during hunting season and this is all due one bad mistake that happened one night; throwing away a life time of outstanding achievements. Should this juvenile be held to the same standards as a full grown adult that held a gun to an innocent victim and pulled the trigger? Is this plan foolproof and when does society need to change the rules? Society needs to uphold the same rules for juveniles as it does adults, just on different levels. Most states have a rule for repeat offenders known as 3 strikes youà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢re out. Three times of repeating and they serve a life sentence. Juveniles should be held to the same standards. If they are processed through the juvenile system and repeat offenses three times, then they should be moved up the ladder and processed through the adult judicial system.

Accountant Essay

How comfortable are you working long hours to achieve success? Working overtime or extra hours will not be a problem for me, because I used to work 10 hours per day and to work overtime to finish some special tasks in my previous Job. Sometimes, I spent my personal time on resolving some potential risks and problems that I found. 2. How eager are you to keep on learning to stay ahead of the curve? I am more than happy to learn in the work place because I value the process of continuous improvement. As long as I was instructed to handle something new in my previous ob, I felt excited and satisfied. The double-loop learning process benefits me from applying new knowledge and techniques to work-related areas and self-reflecting the aspects that I can improve. In addition, I am actively pursuing academic success outside work place. For example, I am the youngest CMA candidate in my CMA session. 3. Can you deal with the income volatility that you will be facing during the first few months? I have no financial problem preventing me from accepting a Job if the income is low at the beginning. I worked as a no pay intern during the first two months in my previous Job. Since I am still young, I never put salary as the top priority in searching for a Job. The thing I concern more is whether this Job can help me to develop my competitive edge or not. 4. How comfortable are you working long hours to achieve success? Working overtime or extra hours will not be a problem for me, because I used to work 10 hours per day and to work overtime to finish some special tasks in my previous Job. Sometimes, I spent my personal time on resolving some potential risks and problems that I found. . How eager are you to keep on learning to stay ahead of the curve? I am more than happy to learn in the work place because I value the process of continuous improvement. As long as I was instructed to handle something new in my previous Job, I felt excited and satisfied. The double- loop learning process benefits me from applying new knowledge and techniques to work-related areas and self-reflecting the aspects that I can improve. In addition, I am actively pursuing academic success outside work place. For example, I am the youngest CMA candidate in my CMA session. 6. Can you deal with the income volatility that you will be facing during the first few months? I have no financial roblem preventing me from accepting a Job if the income is low at the beginning. I worked as a no pay intern during the first two months in my previous Job. Since I am still young, I never put salary as the top priority in searching for a Job. The thing I concern more is whether this Job can help me to develop my competitive edge or not. 7. How comfortable are you working long hours to achieve success? Working overtime 8. How eager are you to keep on learning to stay ahead of the curve? I am more than session. 9. Can you deal with the income volatility that you will be facing during the me to develop my competitive edge or not. 0. How comfortable are you working long some potential risks and problems that I found. 11. How eager are you to keep on youngest CMA candidate in my CMA session. 12. Can you deal with the income 13. How comfortable are you working long hours to achieve success? Working overtime or extra hours will not be a problem for me, because I used to work 10 hours per day and to work overtime to finish some special tasks in my previous Job. Sometimes, I spent my personal time on resolving some potential risks and problems that I found. 14. How eager are you to keep on learning to stay ahead of the curve? I am more than happy to learn in the work place because I value the process of continuous improvement. As long as I was instructed to handle something new in my previous Job, I felt excited and satisfied. The double-loop learning process benefits me from applying new knowledge and techniques to work-related areas and self- reflecting the aspects that I can improve. In addition, I am actively pursuing academic success outside work place. For example, I am the youngest CMA candidate in my CMA session. 15. Can you deal with the income volatility that you will be facing during the first few months? I have no financial problem preventing me from accepting a Job if the income is low at the beginning. I worked as a no pay intern during the first two months in my previous Job. Since I am still young, I never put salary as the top priority in searching for a Job. The thing I concern more is whether this Job can help me to develop my competitive edge or not. 16. How comfortable are you working long hours to achieve success? Working overtime or extra hours will not be a problem for me, because I used to work 10 hours per day and to work overtime on resolving some potential risks and problems that I found. 7. How eager are you to keep on learning to stay ahead of the curve? I am more than happy to learn in the work place because I value the process of continuous improvement. As long as I was instructed to handle something new in my previous Job, I felt excited and satisfied. The double-loop learning process benefits me from applying new knowledge and techniques to work-related areas and self-reflecting the aspects that I can improve. In addition, I am actively pursuing academic success outside work place. For example, I am the youngest CMA candidate in my CMA session. 18. Can you deal with the ncome volatility that you will be facing during the first few months? I have no financial problem preventing me from accepting a Job if the income is low at the beginning. I worked as a no pay intern during the first two months in my previous job. Since I am still young, I never put salary as the top priority in searching for a Job. The thing I concern more is whether this Job can help me to develop my competitive edge or not. 19. How comfortable are you working long hours to achieve success? Working overtime or extra hours will not be a problem for me, because I used to work 0 hours per day and to work overtime to finish some special tasks in my previous job. Sometimes, I spent my personal time on resolving some potential risks and problems that I found. 20. How eager are you to keep on learning to stay ahead of the curve? I am more than happy to learn in the work place because I value the process of continuous improvement. As long as I was instructed to handle something new in my previous Job, I felt excited and satisfied. The double-loop learning process benefits me from applying new knowledge and techniques to work-related areas and elf-reflecting the aspects that I can improve. In addition, I am actively pursuing academic success outside work place. For example, I am the youngest CMA candidate in my CMA session. 21 . Can you deal with the income volatility that you will be facing this Job can help me to develop my competitive edge or not. 22. How comfortable are to finish some special tasks in my previous Job. Sometimes, I spent my personal time on resolving some potential risks and problems that I found. 23. How eager are you am the youngest CMA candidate in my CMA session. 24. Can you deal with the edge or not.

Emotion Management

Managing emotion is not easy for me. I find that all to often I allow my emotions to get the best of me and I definitely have a hard time focusing that emotion in a productive manner. I feel as though I do not understand well just exactly what my emotions are until it’s too late. I may have just been slightly frustrated over a small issue, but now I’m completely consumed with anger because I couldn’t resolve a small conflict. Goleman (2001) states, â€Å"having Social Awareness or skill at managing relationship does not guarantee we have mastered the additional learning required to handle a customer adeptly or to resolve a conflict-just that we have the potential to become skilled at these competencies. † This is where I find myself in life. I have the ability to become skilled at many emotional competencies, I just haven’t learned how to yet. Socially speaking I deal very with impulse control and am very effective at resolving conflict. Personally speaking I am just the opposite. I would do very well to learn and practice, what Goleman calls, The Self-Management Cluster. The cluster involves focusing on and managing internal states, controlling impulses, and acknowledging resources. The pursuit of happiness is a driving force in a human’s daily decision making. We choose who, what, where, why and how based on our imagination of the future and how it will treat our future selves. In attempting to create this state happiness I often find myself just the opposite. I like to think that I’m pretty good at shooting myself straight and not over or under predicting the outcomes of my future, however I must agree with Gilbert’s (2006) view that â€Å"Our imaginations aren’t particularly imaginative. Our imaginations are really bad at telling us how we will think when the future finally comes. † If I could live in the ideal world that my simple brain can conjure up I would be wealthy, be situated in the exact job that I know was created just for me, and live with a wife who just adores me. As it stands I only live with that that wife, my imagination thought up the other bits. Sitting here now reading the last line I think I just reinforced the idea that my imagination definitely lacks imagination, The idea of this paper is to consider prescribed readings from Goleman and Gilbert and write a health and wellness prescription for myself. There is one excerpt from Goleman’s book that speaks to me. There is growing evidence that fundamental ethical stances in life stem from underlying emotional capacities. For one, impulse is the medium of emotion; the seed of all impulse is a feeling bursting to express itself in action. Those who are at the mercy of impulse—who lack self-control—suffer a moral deficiency: The ability to control impulse is the base of will and character. By the same token, the root of altruism lies in EMPATHY, the ability to read emotions in others; lacking a sense of another's need or despair, there is no caring. And if there are any two moral stances that our times call for, they are precisely these, self-restraint and compassion† (Goleman, 1995). I believe my prescription from this excerpt is to focus on practicing self-control. I am very good at loving my wife, but I am awful at being a partner. I choose to do what makes me happy in the moment, like exercising or reading a book, rather than spending quality time together. I’m very compulsive to my own wants. I need to look at what the needs of our relationship are and then weigh in how my needs may be affected and make decisions based on all the information gathered. Currently I am very compassionate, caring, giving person. I believe that I am very healthy and have a fair amount of emotional intelligence (EI). I listen well and ask for clarification of what I’ve heard rather than assuming what I heard. I fight fair. I create boundaries and try my best to listen to what my body is tells me. I believe the authors would agree with these statements. I believe they would want me to focus more on self-control and developing more compassion for my personal relationships. I believe I do a good job at finding happy. I try to keep day-to-day life simple and do the little things with big rewards. My prescription for myself is to seek out understanding for my lack of personal impulse control and focus on relationship building activities at home. Achieving a level of balance and control of daily challenges is essential to overall health and happiness. Barringer and Orbuch (2013) quote Marilu Henner explaining â€Å"Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to living a happy, healthy and rewarding life. †

Geography at Harvard

In the latter half of the 20th century, geography as an academic discipline suffered greatly, especially in American higher education. The reasons for this are undoubtedly many, but the biggest contributor was arguably a decision made at Harvard University in 1948 in which university President James Conant declared geography to be not a university subject. In the ensuing decades, universities began dropping geography as an academic discipline until it was no longer found in the nations top schools. But American Geographer, Carl Sauer, wrote in the opening paragraph of Education of a Geographer that the interest [in geography] is immemorial and universal; should we [geographers] disappear, the field will remain and not become vacant. Such a prediction is bold to say the very least. But, is Sauers assertion true? Could geography, with all its historical and contemporary importance, withstand an academic hit like it took at Harvard? What Happened At Harvard? Several key figures emerge in this debate. The first was President James Conant. He was a physical scientist, used to the rigorous nature of research and the employment of a distinct scientific methodology, something which geography was accused of lacking at that time. His charge as the president was to guide the university through the financially lean times in the post-World War II years. The second key figure is Derwent Whittlesey, the chair of the geography department. Whittlesey was a human geographer, for which he was heavily criticized. Physical scientists at Harvard, including many geographers and geologists, felt that human geography was unscientific, lacked rigor, and was not deserving of a place at Harvard. Whittlesey also had a sexual preference which was not as widely accepted in 1948. He hired his live-in partner, Harold Kemp, as a geography lecturer for the department. Kemp was considered by many a mediocre scholar which lent support to geographys critics. Alexander Hamilton Rice, another figure in the Harvard geography affair, founded the Institute for Geographical Exploration at the university. He was considered by many to be a charlatan and would often leave on an expedition while he was supposed to be teaching classes. This made him an annoyance to President Conant and the Harvard administration and did not help geographys reputation. Also, prior to founding the institute, Rice and his wealthy wife tried buying the presidency of the American Geographical Society, contingent on Isaiah Bowman, chair of the geography department at Johns Hopkins University, being removed from the position. Ultimately the plan did not work but the incident did create tension between Rice and Bowman. Isaiah Bowman was a graduate of the geography program at Harvard and was a promoter of geography, just not at his alma mater. Years earlier, a work of Bowmans had been rejected by Whittlesey for use as a geography textbook. The rejection led to an exchange of letters which strained relations between them. Bowman was also described as puritanical and it is supposed that he did not like Whittleseys sexual preference. He also did not like Whittleseys partner, a mediocre scholar, being associated with his alma mater. As a distinguished alumnus, Bowman was part of the committee to evaluate geography at Harvard. It is widely considered that his actions on the geography evaluation committee effectively ended the department at Harvard. Geographer Neil Smith wrote in 1987 that Bowmans silence condemned Harvard Geography and later, when he tried to resuscitate it, his words put nails in the coffin. But, Is Geography Still Being Taught At Harvard? Four Traditions of Geography Earth Science Tradition - earth, water, atmosphere, and relationship to the sunMan-land Tradition - humans and the environment, natural hazards, population, and environmentalismArea Studies Tradition - world regions, international trends, and global relationshipsSpatial Tradition - spatial analysis, geographic information systems Researching Harvard academics online reveals the degree-granting programs that can be considered to fit within one of Pattisons four traditions of geography (below). Example courses for each program are included to show the geographic nature of material being taught within them. Its also important to note that geography was likely ousted at Harvard because of clashing personalities and budgets cuts, not because it wasnt an important academic subject. One could say that it was up to geographers to defend the reputation of geography at Harvard and they failed. Now it is up to those who believe in the merits of geography to reinvigorate it in American education by encouraging and promoting geographic teaching and literacy and supporting rigorous geography standards in schools. This article is adapted from a paper, Geography at Harvard, Revisited, also by the author. Important References: Annals of the Association of American Geographers Vol. 77 no. 2 155-172. Vol. 77 no. 2 155-172.