Juvenile Justice: Age and Judicial Culpability Essay -- Criminal Justi

This paper will first define culpability, search its various levels and examine how it is used during sentencing. Next, this paper will examine lit that supports the belief that era is not the key factor in find culpability and should not be used to de landmarkine guilt or innocence during trial. Finally, this paper will suggest that trying juveniles as bountifuls and remanding them into adult facilities is ineffective at decreasing juvenile crime rates. These issues will be reviewed to determine if physical (chronological) age is a justifiable cause to fall culpability or an excuse used to mask the ineffective inquiry efforts of lawmakers.Culpability has long been defined as a legal term that is used by judicial officials to describe the level of responsibility separately person has for a crime Giedd et al (1999). Prosecutors use courtroom bevel such as culpability based on physical age as a legal excuse to persuade courtroom officials to down sentences for juvenile offende rs. Studies taken from Corriero (2007) revealed that a normal pincer can delineate right from wrong as early as the age of 2 physical grades but it may take up to 1 additional year for an abnormal child to develop that same social unit of cognitive measure. This statement suggests that although it may take longer for anabnormal child to reach the same level of understanding noeticly, one calendar year does not have to open the door for lessened criminal liability. This raises the chronological age of normal children and lessens the age of abnormal children in many cases. For example, a 14 year old (chronological age) child can have the mental age of a 6 year old or evil versa. Juvenile accountability varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction throughout the ... ...dies An International ledger for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition Vol. 80, No. 1 (Oct., 1995), pp. 41-49 Smit, D. (2005) The abolishment of Capital Punishment for Persons Under the Age of Eighteen Years in the United States of America. What Next? Oxford Journals Law Human Rights Law Review leger 5, Issue 2 Pp. 393-401Staniels, J. (1995) Grading Culpability at Sentencing The Example of Sentencing Entrapment federal official Sentencing Reporter Vol. 7, No. 4, Criminal Law Defenses at Sentencing pp. 178-180 Steinberg, L & Scott, E.(2003) less(prenominal) Guilty by Reason of Adolescence Developmental Immaturity, Diminished Responsibility, and the Juvenile oddment Penalty. American Psychologist, Vol 58(12), 1009-1018Winter, H ( 2006)The Economics of umbrage An Introduction to Rational Crime Analysis5th and 14th Amendment Retrieved from www.findlaw.com October 29, 2011