These days you cannot turn on your television or open a newspaper without coming across issues of juvenile crime. More and more, the ages of those who rob, rape, maim, and murder are decreasing considerably (even down to ten and eleven years of age). Author Rita Kramer discusses this issue further in her article published in the Wall Street Journal titled "At A Tender Age: Violence Youth and Juvenile Justice." In it, she argues that America's current laws are outdated and must be revised for the benefit of both the victims and the community as a whole. Overall, Kramer's article is successful because of her use of strong arguments, solid ideas of alternative methods, and a writing style that is straight-forward and easy to follow. .
Rita Kramer's use of strong arguments solidify her position on the issue of juvenile crime. The first of these arguments is used in paragraph seven of her article and involves the consequences youth criminals face under today's current law system. In this paragraph she states, "eighteen months in a facility that usually has TV, a basketball court, and better food and medical care than at home is the worst that all but the most violent repeat offenders have to fear."(6). This illustrates how inefficient America's current system is in that it does nothing for youths committing the crimes. Providing conditions which are often better than what the youth would normally get certainly does not teach them any valuable lessons. Actually, according to Kramer, it does nothing but ".encourages the young to continue their criminal behavior by showing them that they can get away with it" (7), and I agree with her one hundred percent. .
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A second argument Kramer uses involves a change in focus among the judges and lawyers of today, as opposed to those of earlier times. In paragraph five she states the following: .
the juvenile system focuses on the minutiae of procedural technicalities at.