The American institution has encountered numerous issues within its criminal justice system since its establishment in the U.S. The American juvenile justice system does not offer fair judgment when sentencing juvenile offenders to life sentences without parole. When dealing with life sentencing, the justice system is not taking into account 1. every aspect of societal issues that arise, 2. the effects the sentence has on these young adults, and furthermore 3. the other ways to help these young teens change their lives positively rather than disregard them all together. The poor judgment calls made by criminal justice officials is an issue that needs to be addressed, because the decision to sentence young adults to life sentences with no parole will only have a negative effect on the development of criminal behavior in these youth (Petitclerc, Gatti, Vitaro, & Tremble, 2012).
This issue of unfairly condemning younger individuals to life with no chance of getting an early parole is an issue that affects our society in different ways and poorly reflects the moral values the Criminal justice system demonstrates when dealing with juvenile offenders. It's important as members of American society to be aware of all the issues in the criminal justice system and how our government officials handle these issues. A big question to ask yourself when thinking about judicial decisions made regarding juvenile offenders is if you truly believe the mistakes someone makes should define their life instead of giving them a second chance. The question of whether or not life sentences without parole is fair for juvenile offenders holds strong historical value because of the developmental issues that go hand in hand with the issue. The way judicial officials handled the same cases 50 years ago has affected the future population of criminals in prison facilities presently, and those same children that were sentenced 50 years ago have now developed into the criminal leaders that run criminal organizations even behind bars.