target practice, etc., would be the only exceptions to this amendment (Idelson 3129). Since each state has their own laws, the Senate unanimously embraced this law with obviously minimal opposition. Ewing (1990) writes, “Today every jurisdiction in the United States allows at least some juveniles to be prosecuted as adults and, if convicted, punished as adult criminals” (p. 137). He points out that four factors are usually required: the crime must be serious enough, the juveniles must be at least teenagers, they must be considered dangerous, and they must be considered not amenable to rehabilitation. When these factors are present, in four states, juveniles who are 16 and older are automatically tried as adults; in 10 states this occurs at age 17, and in all others, violent juveniles are automatically tried as adults at age 18. In the summer of 1985, a bill introduced into the Illinois legislature attempted to reduce from 13 to 10, the age at which a juvenile murder suspect could be tried as an adult. The bill passed the Senate but not the House. Nevertheless, it reflected growing public concern over the need to provide suitable punishment for serious crimes, regardless of the age of the offender. The father of a boy stabbed by four youths, who were tried a adults in 1996 and convicted of first-degree murder, expressed his feelings on the verdict, “We don’t celebrate the misfortune of other. But justice is justice” (quoted by Pols, p. A3). In September 1995 the Justice Department issued a report concluding that, if current trends continue, the number of juvenile arrests for violent crimes will double by the year 2010. Arrest rates for ages 10 to 17 for violent crimes jumped 100% between 1983 and 1992, and the number of teenagers in the population is expected to increase 20% over the next decade. Attorney General Janet Reno noted her shock that the murder rate in 14 to 17 year-olds rose 16...
