Reforms in the Juvenile Justice System

According to experts, juvenile justice reforms that show empirical data shows how costs can be saved by finding ways and means to rehabilitate the offenders instead of keeping them in the juvenile system. This will save a lot of money in court costs and also save these youngsters from the court system.   The justice system in most western countries is severely punitive systems that show very little tolerance for juvenile offenders especially if they are gang members. Experts have challenged this retaliatory attitude and argue that this is the time for a total re-hauling of the system and widespread attitudes of people law enforcement towards adolescents showing aggressive and criminal tendencies.

Issues relating to juvenile systems are extremely sensitive and produce severe reactions. Some people contend that these imprudent children must be shown compassion because they need understanding and help more than they need to be punished. To quote experts the juvenile system is extremely vengeful and juvenile offenders are treated more harshly than adult offenders. Some people are voices of reason and compassion and their approach is quite appealing. This approach should be heeded by law enforcement agencies who demand strict action against them and the judges before whom the offenders are presented.

Police records show that juveniles usually comprise a very small percentage of all offenders that are arrested by the police. This happens for the reasons that most juvenile offenders are between 18-19 years of age and cannot be legally defined as juveniles. The ratio of juveniles is different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction because they are affected by the measures that police in each different territory or state adopt. The type of juvenile offenses also varies according to the type of offenses committed. Most adolescents outgrow criminal tendencies because the ratio of offending usually peaks during late adolescence and is reduced during early adulthood.

This relationship is not associated with many other offending factors Currently Laws and rules are especially made for juvenile offenders and implemented by institutions who administer juvenile justice to cater to the requirements for juvenile offenders while not violating their basic legal and political rights because it is an established fact that young people aged between 15 to 19 are more likely to have criminal tendencies than any other age group. Police data verifies that offender rates have been continuously higher for this age group which invariably decline in people between the ages of 25 and over.