The juvenile legal system was created with a different purpose than the adult criminal system.
“The reason we have a juvenile legal system is because there was an understanding that children shouldn’t be tried in the adult criminal system, that it wasn’t the appropriate place for them,” Shah said.
Juvenile court was designed around rehabilitation. The adult system, by contrast, is built primarily around punishment and public safety.
“There’s a presumption that just because a person has been charged with homicide, they must require prosecution in the adult system,” Shah said. “And it fails to really think about the circumstances of their age, their social surroundings, their family history.”
The sentencing stakes are drastically different
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