Crime Among Youth Essay Research Paper Crime

Crime Among Youth Essay, Research Paper

Crime among juveniles has risen gradually in the 1900 s. The young criminals have just recently begun to commit serious offenses within this and the last decade. Violent crime, usually associated with hardened adult criminals, but today young teenagers today are also involving themselves with these serious crimes. The juvenile court system lacks a constant manner of disposition. At times it lets murderers run free, while it could help others through counseling and specialized camps. The current juvenile judicial system does the best it can do for the juveniles and the state, but at times it fails to do so; the system does and does not at times do what is in the best interest of the juvenile and state. The story of two young teenagers from Edward Humes No Matter How Loud I Shout show how the current system today can help, and how it can hurt juveniles today.

Hardened criminals are usually associated with pre-meditated violent crimes. Having past experience with crime, these criminals have no hesitation when it comes to taking another human beings life. When, and if these cold-blooded killers are caught, justice serves its purpose. They are handed the longest and toughest prison sentence possible, but it makes people wonder how a young teenager could be responsible for a crime like murder.

Ronald Ducan comes from a good middle class family, and he was given opportunities that unfortunate children living in the ghetto do not receive. He attends high school, and his parents who are divorced, see him as their baby who has never given them an ounce of trouble. Ronald had no prior record, except for detention, or an occasional un-excused absence from class. His past cannot explain his actions one fatal night. Ronald, who worked at a Basket Robin s Ice Cream store, was given a ride home from his employers when he dispassionately murdered them. With a powerful shotgun, he shot one of his employers unexpectedly in the back of his head while he was driving. He then emptied the shotgun and reloaded it as his female employer was screaming, and without pity, shot and murdered her too. He grabbed the day s earnings and fled. The next day he bragged about his crime to his friends at school. His friends attest to hearing his story, which in their words was unadulterated. Ronald seemed as though he was boasting about the murder; even more sickening was the fact that he takes pride in it.

Ronald was apprehended for the double homicide a day after it happened. He was interrogated that night by officers, who made him confess to the murders. Later the confession would be thrown out because the detectives supposedly coerced it out of Ronald. Ronald would also boast in jail about how he would be let off with only a slap of the wrist. Ronald understood one thing, he knew he had one important thing many teenage offenders did not have, a technicality. Ronald committed his crime nine days before his sixteenth birthday making him a minor. A minor under the age of sixteen cannot be given a death sentence, and must be released with a clean record at the age of twenty-five. Whether or not Ronald knew about this at the time of the murder, Ronald knew later that it would be his saving grace.

A long legal proceeding dragged on for Ronald, where witnesses were presented and lengthy cross-examination sessions lasted. There was hard and tangible evidence against Ronald, along with a shocking testimony from his partner in crime. In all events Ronald Ducan was sentenced to a total of thirty years in jail, but in reality he could get out by the age of twenty-three where his first parole hearing begins. Ronald played his cards right, he knew he could not be sentenced to jail past the age of twenty-five, and with that he stuck to his alibi.

Ronald used the system and its discrepancies to his advantage. Ronald and his lawyers knew it was a win-win situation, the law was set and they knew it could not be a hypocritical in this case. The judges and prosecutor understood this too, making Ducan a boy who got away with murder. Ronald can return to his life in six to eight years without any prior criminal record. He still has a future he can pursue after his incarceration. The state on the other hand lost money trying to convict a boy they knew was going to be set free. Time was lost and in a sense justice was not served. A boy who is clearly mentally unstable will be set free into the generally public, making the world unsafe. The boy will have the mentality that he can get away with serious offenses. This case was a waste of everything to the state, their money, time, and manpower. Basically the state was hurt by Ronald Ducan, and the fact that more Ronald Ducans can emerge rests uneasily in minds of officials and citizens.

A solution to this loophole in the law must be made. There should be exceptions added to this law so that people like Ronald cannot get away with such crimes. In a sense the juvenile system is breeding young killers. Juveniles who are found guilty of gruesome premeditated murders should be sentenced as an adult. The motives of the child murderer should be examined carefully and if he or she is deemed as a threat to society should be tried as an adult. Petty offenses such as shoplifting can be tried under the original guidelines, but serious offenses must and should be tried to fullest extent disregarding age. In m