If you were a juvenile judge, which way would you lean on someone's first offense?

Question

Compassion
or
"Letter of the Law"

Wow! these are some great answers.

Answer 1

Oh I'm a softie, I'd let them off with a warning. But first they'd have to write a 1000 word essay to the person or establishment they wronged, explaining what they did and why, and asking forgiveness.

Then I'd require that it be published in the newspaper.

I did this when my 22 year-old was arrested for chucking rocks through windows at the age of 14. He never did anything criminal again.

Answer 2

Uncle Wayne, you are not going to believe this. Just today, my friend's 14 year-old son was caught on tape stealing candy. We were at the store where this happened, and the State Police had her son in custody with three other juveniles. She has to have her son finger printed, and wait for the District Justice to send her the notice for the preliminary hearing. She is extremely nervous about the outcome because her son already has three other charges pending against him, and at the same District Justice!!! Wow. I only wish I were the DJ, because knowing her situation and so many other single moms like her, mercy would be the order of the day. I would weigh all relevant factors and make a determination that satisfied both the letter of the law, and the spirit of mercy.

Answer 3

So much would depend upon the crime and how repentant the juvenile seemed. I wouldn't let them off with no punishment. There would definitely be either restitution or community service of some kind. I'd also probably have them go to counseling of some type to understand why the crime was committed and to see if there was anything to be done that could help the kid.

Answer 4

That is a very hard question to answer on just that. First it depends on the crime and the age of the child and their cognitive abilities to know if what they did was wrong. A child of 10 and a technical child of 16 will have different abilities to think and formulate what they do.

And being a judge, you do swear to uphold law or risk getting it reversed in a higher court. You do have to somewhat stay within the law and that of course is different state to state.

Answer 5

Depends on the offense, but for most, pretty leniently. Except I don't like the judge who judged the kid who broke into my apt last year - the only 'sentence' he gave out was to interview me about how it made me feel. Like I'm going to tell some snot-nosed bastard how he made me afraid to sleep at night for weeks. That's a great plan.

Answer 6

Depends on the crime.
A local 16 year old boy was just arrested for killing his "best friend" and his parents.
I would not want to be the judge in this case.
I truly don't think he understood what he was actually doing. But, how do I know for sure?

Answer 7

depends on the offense. a judge ( i forgot the state) sentence juvenile offenders to serve their time in their parent's bathrooms with nothing to do. today's little ones need to learn a word known as accountability

Answer 8

Well, it would depend on the seriousness of the charge. Also, the attitude of the individual. Usually one is given a chance, but not always! Hope this best answers you for the amount of information you supplied!

Answer 9

I would abolish myself for juveniles are a random arbitrary assignment of maturity by a novice group that bases its ideology primarily on personal religious beliefs

Answer 10

It would really depend on the offense they committed and how they reacted to it. If they showed no remorse then I would be harder on them. If they started with talking of their religion, I'd be harder on them. I've found that if someone constantly speaks of how good of a person they are, they aren't. They are hiding behind their religion.