Should juvenile offenders be treated differently to adult offenders?

Authors Avatar

The Criminal Process and Sentencing/Punishment

Should juvenile offenders be treated differently to adult offenders?

Juvenile offender’s also known as young offenders are classified in an individual section of the criminal justice system Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW). This is known as the Juvenile Justice System which describes how juveniles are treated in the criminal justice system. It incorporates legislation, policing, the courts and aspects of welfare including criminology, crime prevention strategies, punishment and rehabilitation.   Juvenile Justice Law is not Commonwealth Law however; it is State Law with each state in Australia having their own laws. New South Wales is the largest juvenile justice jurisdiction in Australia, once you turn 10 years you can be charged with a criminal offence. However, juvenile justice is part of International Law and it is seen that juveniles should be treated differently from adults in the criminal justice system.

This is as; there are different ways in which you deal with children opposed to adults. This includes separate courts and prisons for each.  Both children and adults are subjected to the same Criminal Law, however, if a criminal offence is committed children are differently treated. There are specific rules about the criminal proceedings which include: no child under the age of 10 can be charged with a crime, the police must prove the elements of the offence for children between the age of 10- 14  as well as that the child knew what they were doing was wrong not just naughty. A statement or interview made to the police is admissible for a person under 18 unless there was a sovereign adult present. All offences are heard in the Children’s Court except very serious criminal cases. A child under 16 found guilty of an offence in the Children’s Court will not have a criminal conviction recorded against them.

The number of young people in custody has significantly increased since December 2007 due to various factors including age, gender, and the types of offences. “Youth crime is a factor of economics circumstances, social circumstances, education, health, those are the factors that really affect youth crime, not policing, increased policing, increased use of detention or imprisonment.” Juvenile offender rates have been generally twice as high as adult rates. Juvenile offender rates have decreased from 1996/97 to 2003/04 from 3965 to 3023 per 100 000 per year. It then increased in 2005/06 and increased again in 2006/07 to 3532.  However, the adult offender rate peaked in 2000/01 at 2100 per 100 000, in 2006/07 it was 1492 per 100 000 the lowest rate recorded.  On an average day in 2006/07 941 juvenile offenders were held in imprisonment across Australia. Reporter Mathew Carney states,” Everyday a thousand young people are incarcerated in detention centres across Australia. Research shows it’s not always the best answer- it’s just creating a harder and bigger breed of criminals.”    More than two-thirds of the young people who receive a control order from the NSW Children’s Court are convicted of a further offence within two years of their custodial order.   Young offenders aged between 15 to 19years are prone to be processed by police for committing a crime than any other person.

Join now!

 The offending rate for young offenders between the ages of 15 to 19 was four times the rate for offenders aged more than 19 in 2006/07. Costs associated with juvenile detention are very high. For example “Phil Raams has just been released from juvenile detention.. He’s been in and out since he was 14… at 17 crime and punishment is Phil’s life. It’s all he knows… he has been inside ten or 11 times… To keep Phil in Juvenile detention costs the taxpayer about $150 000 a year… but if he continues on his way then the community will end ...

This is a preview of the whole essay