• The law sees the youth with different eyesJustice image by MVit from Fotolia.com
  
  "Juvenile delinquency" refers to all criminal acts committed by minors. In 2008, the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program reported that 2.11 million arrests of juveniles. Of the all reported violent crime arrests, juveniles made up 16 percent; of all property crimes, juveniles accounted for 26 percent; and 38 percent of all murders by juveniles are targeted against other youth.
  
  

Juvenile Justice and Rehabilitation

• There is debate going on whether minors should be tried as adultsAnachronistic Gangster image by Scott Griessel from Fotolia.com
  
  The 1899 Juvenile Court Act and the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act are the laws in which the U.S. member states agree to set up a juvenile justice system where the youth are tried and sentenced. Juvenile justice includes the body of laws governing those under the age of 18, minors who are not usually tried as adults. Under these acts, underage offenders are conveyed to juvenile rehabilitation institutions instead of facing the full punishment of the law. Laws like California’s Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act of 1994 started up programs to reform at-risk youth and young offenders. The state of California maintains custody of juveniles while attempting to integrate them into society through community outreach.
  
  

Stiffening Laws against Juveniles

• Depending on the case, if a juvenile under the age of 13 commits a crime, he could be tried as an adult. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 hold responsible the minors involved in illegal activity such as firearm possession and drug trafficking. Adults who support and encourage juveniles to crime, at schools or on the playground especially, will face triple the regular imprisonment time. A few states have also introduced stiffer laws for juvenile offenders. Some examples are Michigan’s Juvenile Waiver Law of 1997 and California’s Proposition 21 of 2000. Harsher juvenile laws in the pipelines such as The Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender Act of 1997 will submit juveniles aged 13 and above to regular adult courts of justice.
  
  

Important Juvenile Precedents

• Do the crime, do the timehandcuffs image by William Berry from Fotolia.com
  
  In the landmark case of Thompson v. Oklahoma (1988), the Supreme Court decided that minors younger than 16 at the time of the crime would not face capital punishment. However, one year later, the Stanford v. Kentucky (1989) case reversed the decision so that minors 16 and above could face the death penalty. Roper v. Simmons (2005) made it unconstitutional to execute the death penalty on minors less than 18. This case overturned the previous Stanford v. Kentucky (1989) ruling that legalized capital punishment for minors 16 and above.