Juvenile Justice

This episode of American Justice focuses on the alarming rise of violent crimes committed by juveniles. The statistics for violent juvenile offenders are higher than ever, and the American justice system is grappling with how to deal with these youthful offenders. Are these children to be tried as juveniles, or as adults? Juvenile Justice explores this dilemma of how to deal with children who commit crimes of violence, and investigates the underlying reasons for their behavior. It also examines the racial imbalance for children convicted of violent crimes, questioning the reality of color-blind justice.

Juvenile Justice would be useful for classes on Criminal Justice, Civics, Ethics, and Sociology. It is appropriate for high school and college.

**Due to the graphic nature of some of the footage shown in Juvenile Justice, educators are urged to use discretion in showing this film to younger students.

• accomplice
• amnesty
• clemency
• cognition
• commute
• deterrent
• heinous
• horrific
• mayhem
• mitigating
• mutilations
• premeditated
• prosecutor
• provocative
• rehabilitate
• remorse
• sociopathic
• squalid
• tendency
• trauma
• truant
• verify

1. According to Juvenile Justice, the juvenile justice system is based not on punishment, but on hope. What is meant by a system based on hope? What does the system hope to achieve?

2. Historically, juveniles in the United States have been tried differently than adults. Do you think juvenile offenders should be tried the same way as adult offenders?

3. Should a young person, such as Paula Cooper, be executed?

4. Are there any moral questions concerning the application of the death penalty? If so, what are these issues?

5. Most juvenile offenders have a history of child abuse. What is the role of child abuse in juvenile crime? Why does a background of child abuse make a juvenile more susceptible to violence?

6. Should violent children and adolescents be held fully accountable for their actions?

7. The overwhelming percentage of juvenile offenders are male. Why are there gender differences in juvenile offenders?

8. What are the dangers of racial bias in the justice system? Can the system be color-blind?

9. Does the American justice system single out minorities for prosecution? Explain.

10. Should mitigating circumstances be considered when sentencing juvenile offenders? How do you determine if a juvenile offender deserves a harsh or lenient sentence? How can you assure that the guidelines for leniency would be equally applied to everyone, regardless of race, class, religion or gender?

11. What kind of alternative methods of justice would you suggest besides incarceration?

1. With the class divided into two sections, debate the pros and cons of applying the death penalty to juveniles in particular, and all offenders in general.

2. Research the case of Leopold and Loeb, two youthful murderers of the early twentieth century. How does their background differ from most modern day juvenile offenders? What punishment, if any, would you apply to Leopold and Loeb?

3. Take an account of a violent juvenile crime from the newspaper and hold a trial in your classroom. Assign a prosecutor and a lawyer for the defense, witnesses, a judge and a jury, and conduct the trial according to the legal guidelines of the American judicial system.

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