1)

No I don’t think that as a whole the elected officials in my city or across the country take juvenile crime serious. According to the National center for juvenile justice they states that violent crimes committed by juveniles is down to a thirty year low (NCJJ Report Shows Juvenile Crime Keeps Falling, But Reasons Elusive. 2015). So that means whatever the justice system is doing must be working. But every time there is a budget hearing in my city one of the first departments that gets funding cut is the juvenile courts system. So if we are successful then why cut the programs that are working. The answer is that the elected officials never learn from their mistakes or history. To many times when the hard choices come a politician will choose funding for a new park to put their name on instead of less glamorous things like programs for juvenile offender and their families. To improve the system here in my city I would fund the program and give it the same priority as the schools system. Because every kid we keep out of the adult criminal system is a win win for everyone.

ANSWER IN YOUR WORDS 100 WORDS OR MORE

2) I do not thing the United States justice system is doing enough to address the juvenile crime problem. I believe we have taken a don’t ask, don’t tell approach to the problem of juvenile crimes, which has filtered down to the juveniles. They realize now, more than ever, that they can do just about anything they chose and receive a smack on the wrist. Most juveniles we deal with in the field will tell you “you can’t do anything to me because I’m not seventeen yet”, which is the age in which juveniles are actually charged as adults in Georgia.

   I think to improve the juvenile justice system we need to take a tough, hard-line approach when dealing with juveniles. I think one of the most important things we could do is to start treating criminals as criminals regardless of age. Strict sentences, including jail time, not baby jail, would open the eyes of some of these want to be criminals before they are too far gone to change their paths. I have always heard if you’re old enough to do the crime you’re old enough to do the time

   Juvenile courts would simply be there to handle status offenses in which the juvenile could no longer be controlled by his or her parents, or minors under the age of thirteen. The superior court would handle all cases in which the juveniles were charged with crimes in which person could be sentenced to prison.  

   If we stop treating juvenile offenders with padded gloves we may actually save more than we lose to the criminal life.

ANSWER IN YOUR OWN WORDS 100 WORDS OR MORE