Effectiveness of the criminal justice system Essay

Assess the effectiveness of the criminal justice arranging when dealing with schoolboyish offendersThe criminal justice system approaches modern offenders by per masterminder of bizarre policies to channelize the challenges of dealing with juvenile offending. They take special supervise when dealing with juveniles in order to item them from repeat offending and stop any potential bad behaviour which could result in prox. Juveniles concord the highest tendency to rehabilitate and most adopt law-abiding lifestyles as they mature. on that point atomic number 18 several factors influencing juvenile crime including psychological and social pressures unique to juveniles, which whitethorn lead to an increase in juveniles risks of nexus with the criminal justice system.Firstly, crime committed by psyches between the climb ons of 15 to 19 atomic number 18 more likely to be processed by police more often than any other societal group, make crime rates in this age bracket sig nificantly higher. This is collectable to the fact that offence rates usually peak during adolescence and allow adjust with maturity which happens during early adulthood. The processing of these crimes helps to embed the seed of legal acquaintance in the mind of a electric razor in hopes of shaping their future actions. In NSW the age of criminal responsibility is defined by law as 10 old age of age (Childrens (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 NSW).This means that a child downstairs the age of 10 years can non be prosecuted for a crime. The basis of this is the recognition of the immaturity and vulnerability of children and, hence, their inability to form the requisite criminal intent known as mens rea which protects a child from being tried at the level of the adult while they argon not developed enough to know the difference between rightfulness and wrong. Additionally, the common law presumption of doli incapax refers to the presumption that a child is incompetent of comm itting a crime between 10 and 14 years of age which protects a child who was unawargon that the act was wrong.Police be empower to require that a young psyche provide them with name, address and test copy of identity. As with adults, police have no general power to apprehend a child for the purpose of questioning. A child or young personcannot be taken to the police station unless they are under arrest. If arrested, the childs parents or guardian must be contacted. A child cannot be questioned by police for more than ii hours at any one time and is entitled to have their parent, guardian or solicitor present during questioning. If the child is younger than 16 years, parental license must be obtained or another supporting adult to be present during questioning. There are some exceptions to this in relation to, for exercising, labor vehicles. If a young person is the owner of a motor vehicle, they are required by law to tell police the name and address of the driver of the veh icle if it is alleged that the driver committed a private road offence.The Childrens Court only hears proceedings for offenders under 18 years or those who are still under 21 years and committed or were charged with the crime while under the age of 18. For this reason, it is a closed court and proceedings range to be less globe so not to intimidate the child and protect them from harsh labeling and validatory defamation by the wider association which could potentially affect their future. The names of children and young people appearing in the Childrens Court are not published it is an offence for media outlets to do so. Under very special setting the court may grant permission for names to be published.The cases are usually presided over by a Magistrate and there is no jury. The first purpose of sentencing and the entire process is to nullify the situation and come up with a plan of action to rehabilitate the offender more than penalise them, for this reason, it is highly e ffective.The primary aim of a court when imposing a penalty on a child or young person is to rehabilitate them and give them an opportunity to rebuild their lives and hopefully not reoffend. Magistrates forget often request that Juvenile Justice prepare a ambit report on the child or young person to attend them in the sentencing process. If a guilty plea is entered or the young person is found guilty of a crime, the following penalties may be impose A caution may be issuedThe offender may be referred to a Youth Justice ConferenceDepending on the offenders ability to pay they may be fined to a upper limit of$ super acid Community Service may be ordered up to degree centigrade hours for offenders under 16 years and up to 250 hours for those older than 16 The may be placed on a good behaviour sequesterDiscuss factors that affect sentencing decisions, including the purposes of punishment and the role of the victimStatutory and discriminatory guidelines inform the exercise of judi cable discretion in the area of sentencing. They aim to provide greater uniformity in sentencing matters and enhance the integrity of the process. discriminative guidelines are set by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal. They are not binding but their aim is to structure discretion. For example, for the offence of culpable whimsical the court has indicated that in the normal course a custodial disapprobation should be enforce unless exceptional circumstances exist. In terms of statutory guidelines a number of acts inform the exercise of judicial discretion. For example, the Crimes Act 1900 NSW prescribes the maximum sentence that may be imposed for various offences. The Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 NSW in like manner prescribes general guidelines in relation to sentencing. For example it identifies what might constitute a mitigating or aggravating circumstance. However, it is left to the exercise of judicial discretion as to how much weight should be given to such circums tances.The sentence that a Court imposes upon an accused is informed by differing punishment objectives. The objective of disincentive is to discourage people from offending in the future. There are two types of deterrence. Specific deterrence aims to deter an individual offender from re-offending, e.g. a forgetful custodial sentence could be said to have a circumstantial check effect by giving the offender a savour of the prison system in the hope that this will discourage get on criminal activity. General deterrence aims to send a message to the fellowship that criminal behaviour is unacceptable and will be punished for example the imposition of a custodial sentence for a particular crime, whether of terse or long duration, could be argued to have a general deterrent effect.This objective is that by making an example of a particular offender, the community will take note and be more willing to respect with the law. The aim of reclamation is to change the behaviour of the offender so that they will not re-offend. Accordingly, rehabilitation is primarily aimed at tackling the problem of recidivism, i.e. repeat offenders. It should be noted that in accordance with the provisions of the Young Offenders Act 1997 NSW, rehabilitation must be the primary focus of any punishment imposed upon a child aged 0 15 years, or a young person aged 16 18 years.Aggravating factors are factors which increase the offenders criminal blameworthiness and therefore are likely to result in the offender receiving a more gruelling punishment e.g. was the crime committed in company? was there gratis(p) violence? was the victim a child? was that child under the consider of the offender? Mitigating factors are factors which reduce the offenders criminal culpability and are then likely to result in the offender receiving a less severe punishment, e.g. whether the offender has pleaded guilty or whether the defendants actions were in some way provoked by the victim. Since 1996 in NSW, victims are permitted to give a victims impact statement to the Court. This legislative change has arguably been a positive development as the statement gives victims a vocalise in the judicial process. It is a matter of judicial discretion as to what weight, if any, the judge will give the victims impact statement.