Juvenile Waiver in Kent v. US Essay: Youth Transfer to Adult Courts
A waiver to transfer a juvenile to criminal court might have significant consequences for the youth. Although there are some beneficial outcomes, the negative impacts on youngsters much exceed the good ones. Scenarios when a juvenile offender should be tried as an adult should be done only in the most severe cases. More damage than benefit comes from arbitrarily prosecuting and incarcerating juveniles in adult institutions. Juveniles are entitled to the complete protection of the law in the judicial system.
The ability to a trial by jury is one advantage of transferring adolescents to the adult system. A jury may feel greater compassion for them only because they are minors (Springer & Roberts, 2011). In addition, a court may impose a lesser term or an alternative punishment on a juvenile offender to reduce the strain on overcrowded adult correctional institutions.
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In contrast, if a juvenile is waived to an adult court, they might face a considerably more severe term in an adult jail or prison. Juvenile courts should act in parens patriae and do what is in the child’s best interest, whether through rehabilitation, therapy, or punishment (Paulsen, 1966). Thus, the therapy and rehabilitation alternatives accessible in juvenile courts are not available in adult courts. Deleting a juvenile’s record from adult court records is also considerably more difficult once the case has been decided. Furthermore, sending young offenders to adult prisons increases the likelihood that they may be abused.
In conclusion, the disadvantages of transferring juvenile cases to adult courts exceed the advantages. If a juvenile is complicit in a serious crime, they should be tried as adults. Waivers, however, should be sought by the courts with caution.
References
Paulsen, M. G. (1966). Kent v. United States: The Constitutional Context of Juvenile Cases. The Supreme Court Review, 1966, 167-192.
Springer, D., & Roberts, A. (2011). Juvenile justice and delinquency. Jones & Bartlett publishers.