CJUS 550 Discussion 4-Reply 2

CJUS 550 Discussion 4-Reply 2

The below assignment has been written by another student. Please
read it very carefully and reply to it by providing 200 words, apa
format, at least 2 or 3 citations in addition to course textbook
Schmalleger, F. (2011). Criminal justice today: An introductory
text for the 21th Century (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall. Your work should be original work. Thanks (todd) The
juvenile justice system is on the cusp of following a cycle that
could return to a pre-1970’s system. Severe and detrimental crimes
committed by juveniles coupled with the media presentation of crime
increase are pressuring the system into the adultification process.
Certainly the evolution of technology has contributed to the
severity of crimes committed by youth. For example, “some
researchers argue that cyber violence should be a new object of
adult concern. Indeed, it has been suggested that Internet bullying
has emerged as a psychologically devastating form of social cruelty
with some scholars identifying cyber-bullying as a modern pervasive
problem” (Cesaroni, Downing, & Alvi, 2012, p. 199). This
cyber-terrorism can be more devastating and criminal with
activities like identity theft. Identity theft occurred when a
child created a social media page of another child and made vicious
and lewd comments about an entire school population for six months
before being stopped. This crime devastated the child who appeared
to own the page, and disrupted her life significantly. The
8th-grade perpetrator was caught, deemed delinquent and sentenced
to probation where she could not use the Internet or technology
until she turned 21 years old. Juxtapose this crime with that of
Gerald Gault and his friend Ronald Lewis. They were taken into
custody and charged with making a lewd phone call. “Young Gault was
adjudicated delinquent and remanded to the State Industrial School
until his twenty-first birthday” (Schmalleger, 2011, p. 551), he
was seventeen at the time. The latter occurred in 1964; the former
occurred in 2010. Certainly the cyber case significantly impacted
the victim, especially when compared to a single lewd phone call
made by Mr. Gault. Did the punishment fit the crime? Adultification
of the juvenile justice system due to media hype and public
pressure will not lead to rehabilitation. Young adults transferred
to adult facilities at the age 18 or 21 due to crimes committed as
a child enrolls them in a highly culturized prison education
system. In this system, they will learn how to become better
criminals by some of the best professors of crime, long term adult
criminals.A move toward adultification of the juvenile justice system is
the polar opposite of increasing efforts to prevent juvenile crime.
As a prevention professional, I firmly believe that the media and
public should focus more attention on juvenile prevention measures.
These prevention measures not only focus on those “at-risk,” but
also bystanders. “Interventions are also looking at bystanders.
Some studies have shown up to 90 per cent of young people ignored
wrong-doing when they saw it” (Nicol, 2012, p.3). If we have any
hope of impacting juvenile crime, adult crime, and general societal
safety, we need to teach young people “to do to others as you would
have them do to you” (Luke 6:31, NASB). We are headed down a path
where people do not care about one another. “Because of the
increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew
24:12, NASB). As we move closer to end times, the hearts of many
will grow cold towards Christ and our fellow man. Warm the hearts
of America and teach that passivity breeds crime and jeopardizes
the safety of all. The answer is not adultification of the juvenile
justice system; the answer is preventing entry into the system by
identifying at-risk behavior and initiating an intervention or
diversion. Adultification is one step closer to incarcerating a
minor for four years for making a lewd phone call. Do we really
want to go back to 1964?

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