Criminal Law

Juvenile jurisprudence

In an article written by Pagnanelli (2007 , he discusses the result of the Supreme Court 's ruling on the case Roper vs . Simmons and its implication to juvenile jurisprudence in the country . It questions the wisdom of trying violent youth crimes in criminal courts , and proposes using the Supreme Court 's decision to modify the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002 . Before the decision was given juvenile cases of violent nature were often handled by adult courts which , the author argues , defeat the purpose of having a juvenile

court system 's two main goals -- that of rehabilitating the offender and protecting the community

The article is divided into four parts to provide clarity . The first portion traces how violent juvenile offenses came to be treated as adult crimes . The automatic transfer of violent juvenile cases has not always been in place . Juvenile cases had to go through due process in for the proper venue to waive the case to an adult court . In later years , however , this procedure has been skirted in some states resulting to automatic case transfers without undergoing procedural safeguards . As a result , juvenile offenders tried in adult courts are not treated as minors . At the same time , they 're also given the same rights as adults

For the next part , the author explains the procedural transfer dynamics and argues that this system does not support the two objectives of rehabilitation and protection that are sought for in juvenile cases The public opinion on increasing crime rates perpetrated by youths led to the enforcement of the Juvenile Act of 2002 , which treats violent crimes by youth in the same manner as adult crimes are treated . Citing statistical data , the author points out that juveniles who were punished through an adult system had a higher tendency of committing the same offenses in the future , a fact that shows the failure of the law

For the succeeding chapter , the Roper vs . Simmons case is discussed , and the barring of death sentence penalties on juveniles is highlighted Citing violations to the 8th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution , a boy of seventeen , convicted of murder , was saved from death when the U .S . Supreme Court upheld a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court to overturn a trial court 's decision . Also in its decision , the Supreme Court drew the line concerning death penalties . It ed that juvenile offenders should never be punished with death

Finally , the last chapter studies how the Supreme Court 's decision impacts the practice of referring violent youth cases to criminal courts . The author argues that the ruling on Roper can be applied to automatic transfers by eliminating statutes that predetermined the age of an adult

References

Lazarus , E (2005 , March 3 "The Supreme Court Strikes Down the Death Penalty For Juvenile

Offenders : A Morally Good Result , A Morally Good Result , Supported by Less-Than-

Convincing Legal Reasoning " FindLaw . Retrieved June 23 , 2008 , from

HYPERLINK "http /writ .lp .findlaw .com /lazarus...