Juvenile Prosecution in New Jersey (Essay Sample)

Juvenile Prosecution in New Jersey
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Juvenile Prosecution in New Jersey
In New Jersey, the juveniles are prosecuted when they commit criminal offenses that are punishable by law. However, because of their lower age, they are not acquitted like the adults and thus there are given special consideration. The juvenile prosecution is aimed at giving the criminal young people an opportunity to change to be better citizens (Steinberg, 2007). The juvenile prosecution is thus guided by the need to ensure that the offenders once in prison are given counseling. This is to ensure that the factors behind their actions are understood by prison management and necessary assistance given. Through the counseling, the government is able to understand the problems that may have influenced the offenders to commit their crime (Griffin, et al, 2011). The time given to offenders to serve in prison depends on the seriousness of the crime. After the duration of improvement, it is expected that the offenders come out of prison as changed citizens.
There are various steps that are followed after prosecuting juvenile offenders. After juvenile offenders are prosecuted and are found guilty, they are taken to juvenile prisons where they serve imprisonment for some duration as determined by judges. In the prison, the intellectual ability of the offenders is determined to enable the prison management to understand the best assistance to give them (Steinberg, 2007). Short sighted thinking and decision making is realized to be a major influence of committing crime in young people. The guidance and counseling given to the offenders start by making them understand how wrong it is to engage in crimes. This is further followed by guidance on how to avoid peer pressure and uncontrolled temper in influencing crime ...