Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Reference the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.
Juvenile Justice – Putting it in Perspective
In Chapter 1 of the text, our author talks about “putting it all into perspective.” After reading chapters 1 and 2 and reviewing the video Young Kids, Hard Time (this video is recommended, but not required), select one of the juveniles from your reading, the movie, or you may speak from personal experience and a particular juvenile in mind. Address the three questions in the following quote from the video:
“In a world that demands justice when the unthinkable becomes reality, there are no easy answers when that reality involves minors. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and remains the only nation that, in rare circumstances, will sentence its juveniles to life without parole. Is it a solution? Does it work? Do we care?”
Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from the required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7 and continue to support your arguments with examples from the required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources. Review your classmate’s opinions in light of your understanding of the juvenile justice system. In your response posts, support one of the positions below:
- Depending on the serious nature of the crime, juveniles should be tried in an adult court and be subject to adult punishments.
- Juveniles should not be punished with sentencing in adult prisons.
- Juveniles deserve a second chance. They should not be tried as adults or serve time in adult prisons.
- Sentencing juveniles to adult prisons is like saying society has given up and there is no treatment that can affect their adult potential. It is the responsibility of society to treat juveniles and that treatment should be administered in juvenile facilities.
