Can We Reduce the Rate of Juvenile Crime and Violence? :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

â€Å"Palm Beach County, Fla. -- On May 26, 2000, 13-year-old Nathaniel Brazill shot his teacher, Barry Grunow, with a .25 caliber handgun in school. Palm Beach County prosecutors tried Brazill as an adult for first degree murder. The jury found Brazill guilty of second-degree murder and the judge sentenced him to 28 years in an adult facility. After his release, Brazill will face two years of house arrest and five years of probation.† (Klug) Does this sentence seem too harsh, or perhaps too lenient? Without knowing all of the details involved in the case, it may be harder to decide what would be the best thing to do with 13-year-old Brazill. What specific details would a person need to know in order to sentence him properly? Has he ever done this before? What were his motives? Is he from a rough neighborhood, living in a bad family situation? Maybe all of these things don’t matter in determining Brazill’s sentence, and he should just be punished according to his crime. If you’re having a hard time deciding, you’re not alone. Since the juvenile court’s introduction in 1899, there have been debates over whether or not the court is effective in treating juveniles. Brazill’s case demonstrates the view that the juvenile court is not working, or is not sufficient to deal with cases as serious as Brazill’s. This is evident in the fact that he was sent to adult court as a 13-year-old as opposed to being tried in the juvenile court. The recent shift toward trying more juveniles as adults is a plain indicator that the juvenile justice system is not working. No one will disagree with that. However, people will disagree on what the system is supposed to be doing in the first place, and how we as a nation should go about fixing it. There are many different approaches to how juveniles should be dealt with, and each approach is extremely complex. One of the main factors that causes the complexity is that with each approach comes certain doctrines on the differences between juveniles and adults.