Read the Passage! Do you agree or disagree, or can you relate to his or her opinion in the post? ADD any thoughts or additional information that you may have found concerning their topic?

By concentrating on the needs of the children and the personal and environmental causes contributing to their criminal behavior, the juvenile court aimed to be rehabilitative. They felt that by doing this, kids would be less likely to commit new crimes, display troublesome conduct, and be more likely to contribute positively to society. Almost every state in the US amended its juvenile laws starting in the 1980s and 1990s to lessen the focus on rehabilitation and strike a better balance between recovery  and punishment. (Huss, 2013). Benefits of a minor in the juvenile justice system, includes academic teaching and initiatives to teach young offenders new ways of thinking and acting are given more priority in order to prevent them from committing crimes again in the future. As well as, having a framework and routine to enable the provision of rehabilitation services and specialized care to certain groups, such as female offenders and sexual abuse survivors. Legal and legislative reforms brought about by youth-focused criminal justice activism are responsible for a significant portion of the overall drop in the number of young individuals being housed in adult institutions. In Roper v. Simmons, the Supreme Court held in 2005 that it is unconstitutional to execute someone for a crime they committed when they were under the age of 18. By doing so, the court established the rule that kids cannot be held to the same moral standards as adults or have their deeds interpreted as proof of a irretrievably corrupted nature. This ruling set the stage for the legal reversal of juvenile life sentences that were obligatory and other measures that held children behind bars. (Initiative, 2018).

The 2006 Justice Policy Institute report summarizes the academic research on the negative effects of locking up children in juvenile detention facilities and demonstrates that doing so slows the process of children growing out of delinquency. It aggravates any mental illnesses already present, raises the likelihood of recidivism, lowers the likelihood of returning to school, and lowers chances of success in the job market. (Initiative, 2018). Even worse than incarcerating kids alongside kids their own age is incarcerating them in adult institutions. The danger of sexual abuse is highest for young people detained alongside adults. In long term effects, they are also 36 times more likely to commit suicide than young people detained in juvenile institutions, and they are more likely to be held in solitary confinement than young people detained in juvenile facilities. (Initiative, 2018). If the juvenile had to be tried as an adult, it should be due to serious crimes such as murder as a deliberate act,  Armed robbery, and rape are the crimes that fall under this category.