Love Juvenile Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Love Juvenile Justice - Essay Example A juvenile who believes that â€Å"the system† has treated him or her unfairly may be less defensive if tried by an objective jury (Elrod and Ryder, 2011, pg. 127). This is to say, a perception of fair treatment may go a long way towards fostering acceptance of responsibility on the part of the juvenile. Thirdly, unlike in adult courts, the jurors in the juvenile systems are not peers of those on trials. In some instances, the juvenile may benefit from this fact, because the adults on the jury may remember their own youthful mistakes and indiscretions and feel sympathy (Elrod and Ryder, 2011, pg. 127). If they are parents, jurors also may realize that, under other circumstances, one of their children could be at the defence table. This in as much as may lead to the inclusion of emotions into the final judgement, it eats into the very consciousness of humanity which a jury is supposed to represent. Finally, Rosenberg (2008) noted that judges generally give a guilty verdict about 25 per cent more often than juries do. This discrepancy is something requiring a level of concern. The American bar association agrees with this finding and concludes that this could as a result of bias from the part of the judges. However, in as much as a trial by the jury is beneficial to the parties involved in any case, but especially the defendant, it also does have some limitations. Jury trials in juvenile proceedings may result to a backlog of cases and hamper the functioning of the juvenile court. Experience has shown that such trials seriously impede the juvenile justice process (Elrod and Ryder, 2011, pg. 126). Another central issue concerning jury trials for juveniles is the fact that these youth are not tried by a jury of their peers, but a jury of adults. A jury of one’s peers is based on two premises: that the jury be made up of members from the defendants’ community and that the defendant is entitled to an impartial jury (Roesch, Corrado and Dempster, 2001, pg. 53).