Introduction
The video Kids Behind Bars addresses several important questions regarding juvenile justice, the most important of which is the necessity of rehabilitating and reforming juvenile delinquents. Even though the juvenile justice system currently tends to “get tough” on juveniles and treat them as adults, this approach seems to be erroneous due to striking differences between children and adults. These two groups have different motifs for committing crimes, and their minds function in distinct ways. For example, juveniles are less capable of self-regulation, more sensitive to external influences, and less able to make the right decisions regarding their future, as compared to adults (Schmalleger, 2019). However, the core difference between them is that “unlike hardened adult criminals, juvenile offenders could often be reformed and set on the straight and narrow path to a successful meaningful life” (Films Media Group, 1999). The juvenile justice system should not disregard children’s capability of behavioral change.
Main body
An important part of juvenile reforms is parental involvement in children’s upbringing. In the video, it is rightly noted that all efforts to change delinquent children, provide them with drug treatment or conflict resolution techniques are in vain if their families do not change (Films Media Group, 1999). In this case, rehabilitated children will come back to the toxic environments that caused them to violate laws and return to their delinquent behaviors. Therefore, a topic question that needs to be addressed is how the juvenile justice system can deal with young offenders’ families and communities in order to reduce the risk of repeated law violations. Moreover, it is necessary to revisit the whole process of upbringing children to prevent them from becoming delinquent. Nowadays, parents tend to blame the environment, teachers, or authorities for their children’s misbehavior rather than try to reform their children, which convinces the youth of their impunity (Films Media Group, 1999). Changing the way parents view the process of upbringing could positively impact youth crime rates.
As for the recent cases that resulted in a kid behind bars, one of them is Celvin Brooks v. State (2018). In this case, Celvin Brooks, a 20-year-old man, was charged with capital murder that he committed at the age of 17 together with two accomplices. The young man has been sentenced to life in prison, and the possibility of parole will be available to him only after he spends 40 years in prison. Brooks tried to appeal the court decision claiming that sentencing a juvenile to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving for 40 years is unconstitutional (Celvin Brooks v. State, 2018). However, the Texas Court of Appeals affirmed the court decision stating that Brooks’ punishment was constitutional; it would violate Constitution if it did not provide him with the possibility of parole (Celvin Brooks v. State, 2018).
Conclusion
I think that the punishment is too harsh for a juvenile since it does not provide him with a possibility of rehabilitation. Brooks has been given the possibility of parole, which is not granted to adults charged with capital murder, so his juvenile status was taken into consideration. However, he will be over 50 years when he can request parole. Forty years spent in prison will make juveniles unfit for life in the community since “the skills that they need to survive in prison are a lot different than the skills they need to survive out in the general society” (Films Media Group, 1999). I think that, if the juvenile justice system does not want to waste the lives of juvenile offenders committing serious crimes, it should consider measures to rehabilitate them to make them law-abiding members of society.
References
Celvin Brooks v. State, 01-18-00175-CR (Tex. App. 2018).
Films Media Group. (1999). Kids behind bars. Films On Demand. Web.
Schmalleger, F. (2019). Criminal justice: a brief introduction (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.