Preview

Joshua Phillips Court Case

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
755 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Joshua Phillips Court Case
Fate of Delinquents He’s thirty-three years old, waking up on a cold, hard bed, eating “nutritious” food, scared of the other inmates, knowing his life will end in prison, all for a crime he committed when he was fourteen. He knows that he has a lot longer to serve as he was given a life sentence. This man described, who was once a child delinquent, is like many other children in America who faced the same fate. Since the very first court case of a child murderer, the debate of whether children should be tried as adults has been a raging discussion. Joshua Phillips’ story is one that stands out among many cases of children tried as adults. It was November 3rd, 1998, in Jacksonville, Florida when 14-year-old Phillips was out in his front …show more content…
Posey was a New Mexico teenager who lived on a ranch with his father, stepmother, and stepsister. He claimed that his father had been extremely abusive for as long as he could remember and, as he got older, the abuse got worse. It was Monday July 4, 2004 as Posey, who was fourteen at the time, woke up around five in the morning to clean out the horse stalls which he had done a million times before. His father came out to investigate the work he had done and then proceeded to slap Cody across the face for not cleaning the stalls fast enough. According to Cody and his defense team, his father then brought him into the house and got out a blowtorch that was used for welding around the ranch and burned him but was not yet through with his punishing. Although random and seemingly unnecessary, the father thought it would be best to force Cody to have sex with his wife. When they walked into his parents bedroom his step-mother was laying on the bed completely naked. Posey told sheriff’s deputies that he refused and ran off the property, making up his mind about his next action, the events of that day pushing him over the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Juvenile Justice

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In recent discussion of Juvenile Justice, a controversial issue has been whether juveniles should be tried as adults in adult courts for heinous crimes they have committed. On one hand, some argue that they should not be tried as adults and do not deserve harsh sentences but as children seeking help. On the other hand, however, others argue that those who commit such heinous crimes ought to be punished no matter the age. The juvenile court was created to handle juvenile offenders on the basis of their youth rather than their crimes. The purpose of juvenile court is treatment and guidance rather than punishment. Juveniles don't have the knowledgeable or moral capacity to understand the consequences of their actions; similarly, they lack the same capacity to be trial defendants. Juveniles today are more knowledgeable and cultured at a younger age; they understand the implications of violence and how violent weapons are used. It is irrational to argue that a juvenile, who sees the effect of violence around him in the news every day, does not understand what killing really is. The fact that “adolescent killers” know how to load and shoot a gun or use a knife to kill is an indicator that they understand exactly what they're doing.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the book, Humes introduces the reader to several youthful offenders as they pass through the juvenile justice system. These offenders come from a variety of backgrounds, and have committed a variety of crimes, but most of them were involved in violent felonies. A dividing issue within the juvenile justice system is whether to transfer juvenile offenders to the adult criminal justice system. Humes clearly illustrates that making this distinction based on age- sixteen in California- is arbitrary and flawed. One boy shot the couple that employed him, and that he claimed to love, in the back of the head with a shotgun, point blank. The boy spent his time in court giggling, waving to his parents, lying on the stand, and showing no remorse. However, because Ronald Duncan was nine days shy of sixteen when he committed this heinous crime, he cannot be transferred to adult court. As such, the maximum amount of time the system can keep him off the street is until he is twenty-five. That is a maximum sentence of only nine years for a premeditated double homicide. Geri Vance’s case stands in startling contrast. Coerced into a robbery, he and his partner attempted to steal cash at gunpoint from a front desk clerk at a motel.…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Evan Miller Court Case

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Evan Miller was 14 years old when he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder. Miller and his friend went to his neighbor’s trailer, Cole Cannon, while he was not there to look for drugs, they didn’t find any but they stole Cannon’s baseball cards and went back home. Later on Miller returned to Cannon’s trailer, Miller found him unconscious due to drugs and alcohol so he decided to steal his wallet. While Miller was grabbing the wallet, Cannon became conscious and attacked Miller. Miller then punched and beat Cannon with a bat. Afterwards Miller set the trailer on fire while Cannon was still in there alive.…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Historically, children have been regarded as constitutionally different from adults. This fact is evident in the way past cases have been decided. Certain juvenile characteristics such as their “ immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences” illustrates the clear discrepancy between children and adults. Furthermore, the majority contend that instances that call for punishment as severe as life imprisonment without parole will be exceedingly uncommon and rare. Requiring that all juvenile convicted of homicide are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole regardless of age or other mitigating factors violates the principle of proportionality.…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A young boy who goes by the name of Lionel Tate was just twelve when he gruesomely murdered a six-year-old girl. It’s been said that the cause of his actions was because he was trying to imitate a wrestling show. The question lies, does he deserve to face his entire life in prison? Or does he, because he is just a child, have the pleasure of settling down for a smaller punishment? This is a very controversial topic that in which many people still can confidently say that the kid doesn’t deserve life in prison. A boy who is just the age to distinguish right from wrong kills another kid out of the sheer fact to pretend he was a wrestler. Youths are no longer their innocent personas once they take the lives of another person. In fact, juveniles…

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Often times it is easier to neglect the inevitability of death, but there is no neglecting the further rebuked notion of murder. The world is quite familiar with this utmost evil and shows no tolerance, but when it comes to the instance of a child who has committed the same crime, the rationale of justice is flipped on its head. There are many conflicts to be raised by two major viewpoints. Those who believe that adolescents deserve mandatory life in prison are understandably hurt and angered by their losses, but they disregard the sheer weight of certain particulars. When a juvenile is convicted of such an act, their age and environment in which they were raised prove to be reasonable mitigation for their horrid conducts.…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    PSY328 final proposal

    • 1936 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Semple, J. & Woody, W. (2011). Juveniles tried as adults: the age of the juvenile matters.…

    • 1936 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    If one is old enough to do the crime, are they truly old enough to do the time? If so, does that time include being placed within a facility originally designated for those at a different age and mental capacity? There are countless disputes and problems regarding the justice system and its decisions. Among those decisions is the decision to sentence a juvenile as an adult and place them within a adult prison, rather than in a juvenile detention center. Just as in most things in life, the justice system is not black and white. Some agree with juvenile incarceration and others reckon children should be treated true to their age and as what they are, children. These academic journals, articles and opinion pieces attempt to make some sense of…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Schwartz is the co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center in 1975 and has been the executive director there since 1982. This is a nonprofit public interest law firm that ensures the youths in foster care and justice systems are treated fairly and have the same opportunities in life in their adult years. Studies also show that the juvenile justice system protects the public much better than the criminal justice system. He argues that “kids are incompetent to be tried as adults, trying them as juveniles it not excusing the crime.” (Schwartz 2010). He thinks that at a young age a child could not process information and plan horrific crimes like an adult can. Youths struggle with impulsiveness, immaturity, undeveloped decision making, susceptibility to negative peer pressure and lack of future orientation. They do not have the common sense, problem…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Criminal Law Paper

    • 1806 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The legal issue present in this case is if sentencing a 14-year-old to life in prison without parole is considered as cruel and unusual punishment. Miller appealed his case on the grounds that his conviction violated both the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. To back his claims, Miller presented the cases of Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 560, which holds that "a minor cannot be sentenced to death and that a minor cannot be imprisoned for life for a non-homicidal crime, respectively, as evidence that his conviction contravenes nationally held standards of decency" (Cornell University Law School, 2012).…

    • 1806 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Children make mistakes from time to time, and haven’t you ever heard the term “we are only human.” Well now that’s we are in 2013, we can acknowledge the fact that locking up a teen for life without parole violates our constitutions eighth amendment. Took us a while, but with the last three court cases, (Graham vs. Florida, Miller vs. Alabama, Roper vs. Simmons) they have all helped us shed a different look on Juvenile punishment in the past seven years. With the help of scientific research we can distinguish the fact that children don’t have the maturity set to make rational decisions on their own, are often pushed by peer pressure, adolescents don’t tend to consider future consequences, and the child’s vulnerability to external influences. These traits are what the court found to set children apart from adults and are to be handed down a differential punishment than adults when it comes to such serious crimes such as life without parole or the death penalty.…

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In this paper, I will look at current scholarly thought to determine the effectiveness of trying juveniles as adults in a court of law. In extreme instances, juveniles of a broad range of ages have committed violent crimes that the criminal justice system has determined to be impossible to have been committed by the accepted frame of mind of a juvenile. These juveniles were tried in adult court and sentenced accordingly. The purpose of my research is to examine juveniles who have been tried as adults and to discuss its strengths and weaknesses. I will analyze the information that I gather and will provide a strong case that this practice is appropriate. Many people believe that some crimes are so terrible that the courts should focus on the type of offense and not on the age of the accused.…

    • 1525 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today’s society, there is a national debate about what to do with juveniles in the criminal justice system. This debate is a result changes in practice throughout United States. The United States made it possible to try juveniles as adults in court after the case of Kent vs. the United States in 1966. The change in legislation is relatively new due to the fact that juvenile courts have "for most of the past century, treated youngsters between 7 and 17 not as criminals but as delinquents." The United States choose to treat the kids as delinquents because there was a major focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment.…

    • 4926 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Juvenile Justice has been a prominent controversy in present day society. We can observe how the majority of crimes committed are being perpetrated by adolescents. The disputation arises on whether the Supreme Court justice should abolish mandatory life in prison for pubescents who commit the immorality of murder or authorize the punishment with parole. Although many can challenge this contrary issue, I concur with ideology of the Supreme Court ruling that juveniles who engage in murder could not be sentenced to life in prison due to the protection the 8th amendment granting defense from cruel and unusual punishment.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Juvenile Justice Reform

    • 1635 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Controversies dealing with juveniles’ age in which they can be charged as adults, giving them life sentences in prison without parole, the application of neuroscience, and the roles both the federal and state governments have played in shaping the policies towards justice reform have been discussed at length for the better half of United States (U.S.) History (755). Dating as far back as 1825, the United States of America has delved into the topic of juvenile justice (755). Today, advocates of the youth and victims’ rights still provide strong interest in criminal justice reform. From lobbying for light sentencing standards for the youth, to making them accountable for their actions, the controversies and arguments towards reforming juvenile…

    • 1635 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays