Four Kids, Four Crimes examines cases of four different juveniles, I chose to take a look at the Marquese case among the four kids. Marquese was tried as a juvenile in the juvenile court with seven theft-related offenses in his record. I do not agree with the decision made to try the defendant as a juvenile in the juvenile court (Frontline, 2014). Looking deeper at Marquese, he had already passed the stage of being tried as a juvenile in the criminal justice system. At the age of seventeen and two months left to attain the age of eighteen, I believe that the defendant should be tried as an adult and not a juvenile.
To come to a decision that Marquese should be tried as an adult, there are several factors that I have considered to come to that conclusion. One of the reasons is his age, where he is older to be tried as a juvenile. As discussed earlier, the defendant had two months left to attain the age of eighteen. Hence, they cannot be considered as a juvenile anymore. Another factor was that his record was too lengthy. The defendant had not committed only one crime but seven theft-related offenses, which show that the juvenile court punishment was too lenient on him. Several punishments and rehabilitation on the juvenile court did not change his behavior at all, and as he ended up committing the same crime over and over. Therefore, I do not agree with the decision by the prosecutor to try him as a juvenile.
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Comparing Marquese's case with that of Christian Fernadez, it was right to try the Fernadez as a juvenile. The difference that allows Christian to be tried as a juvenile is that the defendant was too young, aged twelve, and was considered as a pre-teen (Duvall, 2018). The difference between the two cases was that Marquese was tried as a juvenile instead of being tried as an adult. On the other hand, the prosecutor treated Christian Fernadez as an adult instead of a juvenile (Duvall, 2018). The similarity is that the two defendants committed severe offenses. They included one case of manslaughter by a twelve-year-old and repeated theft and burglaries by a seventeen-year-old.
On the topic of gender in the criminal justice system, girls and women are not treated the same as boys and men. Girls and women are pictured to commit small non-violent crimes such as drug abuse, while men are pictured to commit massive and violent crimes such as manslaughter (Bonnie et al., 2001). Therefore due to this difference in perspective, the treatment both genders receive is not equal. However, in recent years, females' rates of crime have increased rapidly compared to men, and this has been a great concern to the criminal justice system.
References
Bonnie, R. J., Johnson, R. L., Chemers, B. M. … & Schuck, J. (2012). Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach . Washington D.C: National Academies Press.
Duvall T. (2018). Attorneys amend conditions for release of Cristian Fernandez. Jacksonville.com . Retrieved on January 13, 2020, from https://www-jacksonville-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.jacksonville.com/news/20180109/attorneys-amend-conditions-for-release-of-cristian-fernandez?template=ampart&usqp=mq331AQCKAE%3D&_js_v=0.1#aoh=15782130739593&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jacksonville.com%2Fnews%2F20180109%2Fattorneys-amend-conditions-for-release-of-cristian-fernandez
Frontline. (2014). Four Kids, Four Crimes. WGBH educational foundation . Retrieved on January 13, 2020, from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/juvenile/four/
