Common Crimes Juvenile Offenders Commit
Interviewer: Let’s discuss juvenile law. First of all, what are the most common crimes that juveniles are accused of?
Jack: Well, the offenses are in the same range of crimes that adults frequently commit. You find that young people just lack the judgment that is necessary to appreciate right from wrong and sometimes they think more about whether or not I’ll get caught as opposed to whether it’s something they should or should not be doing.
We find that juveniles will steal, will vandalize, and we’ll see that they commit sexual offenses. We certainly see drug use, alcohol use is also commonplace, and you’ll see assaults, so it really parallels the adult court.
How Harsh Are the Punishments for Crimes Committed By Juvenile Offenders?
Interviewer: Is juvenile crimes punishment mostly a slap on the wrist or they can be pretty serious?
Jack: We would never want to include in the text that it’s just a slap on the wrist. The juvenile courts work hard to try to stop recidivism. They want juveniles to appreciate the seriousness of what they’ve done and try to get them assigned to a probation officer or social worker to make sure that they behave in the future.
Which I start worrying about is when they start committing repeat offenses, then the services start increasing and the likelihood of detention becomes greater.
