Juvenile delinquency is a terrifying and terrible face of crime in the United States of America and across the world. Violence, severe aggression and maliciousness are not traits we can easily associate with 12 and 13 year olds, creating nuisance and naughtiness maybe, but not killing someone for adventure or looting a house for acquiring money. Does the disbelief stop it from becoming a reality? No. Juvenile delinquency rates in the country have not witnessed any steep drop in the curve. Infact last year saw the terrible game of knockout played out on the streets by young teenage boys  which led to murder and injury of many helpless Americans.

In view of the recent ruthlessness displayed by a chunk of American teens, there has been buzz that the laws for juvenile delinquents are only about to get stricter. While juvenile delinquent experts consider empathy training as one of the ways of dealing with juvenile criminals, another latent but worrying aspect of juvenile crime is false confessions and convictions.

False  Confessions

Delinquent behavior in children is on the rise but there is no evidence that states that all children who indulge in delinquent behavior grow up to be chronic criminal adults. In fact, children are most easily molded and with the right environment and training they can grow up to be responsible adults. But a false confession can alter the map of a child’s life forever and may even make him a criminal.

So what leads to a false confession?

False confessions could be both voluntary and coaxed. A recent study which appeared in the journal “Law and Human Behavior” was conducted on 193 males in the age of 14 to 17 in a California Juvenile Justice Facility. Of these 35.2 percent revealed that they had made false confessions.

52 % of those who claimed that they had made false admission to crimes said that it was voluntary, it was to protect someone dear who could face a much harsher punishment than themselves.

However, there is an equally significant number of teenagers and children who are threatened and coaxed to make false admissions of guilt.  This could be from various external forces as well as from within the system itself. Threat techniques, deception and in rare cases physical force are also used on these vulnerable suspects. The chances of them breaking down and admitting a crime they haven’t confessed when confronting such scary circumstances is quite high.

This study could be carried out successfully as the youths were told their responses are confidential and could not affect their future hearing and judgments.

Laws Revisited and Made Stricter

Many states have revisited their juvenile crime laws. The recent instance can be of Colorado where the bill that gave prosecutors complete power to charge juveniles at par with adults in serious crimes was altered. This unchecked power of prosecutors was often misused and teenagers accused in mid-level crimes like robbery and burglary were also meted out the same treatment as adult criminals. They were stamped with felony convictions that would hamper their future forever and even made to serve time in adult prisons.

The punishments are already heavy and definitely adverse to the development of teenagers as balanced, improved individuals. Now just imagine this situation when the accused child is not even the culprit and yet gets convicted.

Juvenile crimes are among those crimes that definitely require a strong defense. It is a child’s future at stake and every opportunity must be provided to the child to explain the circumstances, situations and people involved in the crime he is accused of.

A strong and aggressive Denver criminal defense lawyer must be appointed in juvenile crime cases to fight for the rights of the child and ensure that an innocent child does not suffer.

Need For a Criminal Defense Lawyer

Extensive legal research, thorough examination of the crime scene, identifying and gathering of witnesses, interviewing them, developing logical and coherent arguments and providing psychological support also functions well within the terrain of a good criminal defense lawyer who will ensure no injustice is meted out to the juvenile.

Children and teenagers are immature, and while violence and unnecessary aggression cannot be excused under any circumstances, it is important that juveniles get punished and treated like juveniles so that we do not close all doors for them to become responsible and well integrated adults of society.

Conclusion

It can only be argued then that transferring children from juvenile court to adult court is not a deterrent of crime. Prions do not prevent juvenile crime. Children in adult prisons are 5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted, 50 times more likely to be hurt and attacked and 8 times more likely to commit suicide over juvenile facilities.

Hence it is of utmost importance that appropriate criminal defense and psychological support be provided for the children and opportunities be given for their rehabilitation and regulation of aggression.

At the same time forceful false confessions of children and teenagers need to be stopped. Interrogation of juveniles must always be video recorded and hiring a sympathetic and experienced criminal defense lawyer can prevent the wrong children from going to jail.

Adams Criminal Defense Law Firm

Jared Adams is a solitary practitioner and the founder of The Adams Law Firm in Denver, Colorado. He has decades of experience in handling drug crimes, violent crimes and DUI offenses. If you have been arrested and charged call us at 303-565-7726 for more information about your legal rights.