NCJ Number
137901
Journal
Journal of Juvenile Law Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: (1983) Pages: 54-67
Date Published
1983
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Society can be protected from hard-core juvenile offenders by removing those offenders from the juvenile justice system and requiring them to stand trial as adults and receive the applicable death penalty. The certification process, along with the threat of capital punishment, provides an effective and constitutional means of ensuring public safety.
Abstract
While the underlying purpose of the juvenile justice system is rehabilitation and individualized treatment for young offenders, there is a significantly diminished rationale for continuing treatment for those offenders who fail to respond to prior rehabilitative efforts and continue to commit serious offenses. The Eighth Amendment provisions relevant to the constitutionality of capital punishment apply equally to adults and to minor defendants certified to stand trial as adults while providing protection against the indiscriminate killing of juvenile offenders. The author contends that once humanitarian methods of dealing with offenders have been employed and failed, society must be allowed to carry out its retributive instincts as a last resort. 63 notes