The below assignment has been written by another student. Please read it very carefully and reply to it by providing 200 words, apa format, at least 2 or 3 citations in addition to course textbook Schmalleger, F. (2011). Criminal justice today: An introductory text for the 21th Century (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Your work should be original work. Thanks (eric) For a long time there have been supporters for harsher punishment for violent juvenile offenders and the number of people who feel this way have increased. These advocates have suggested that juveniles who commit crimes that bear a close resemblance to the crimes being committed by their adult counterparts should be treated as harsh. The outbreak of increased violent crimes being committed by juvenile offenders has shown that there has been an upgrade in the type of crimes juveniles are committing and that innovative and effective solutions are necessary to combat this trend. The trend can be contributed to several factors, such as lack of parental guidance and peer pressure. Recently juvenile offenders have been committing a number of crimes that resemble the type of crimes committed by adults and those crimes should be prosecuted as adult offenses. Juvenile offenders should be as harshly dealt with like an adult when they commit crimes that are violent in nature, such as murder (committed with malice, forethought or during the commission of a felony), rape, serious assault and armed robbery. According to Garberg & Libkuman (2009), “The transfer of juveniles to adult courts continues to increase, with 50 states allowing for transfer” (p. 555). The adultification of the juvenile offender in general means that the juvenile crime resembles their adult counterpart more now than ever before. Many in society have demanded more punishing options for juvenile offenders that have committed adult like crimes and due to the fears of juvenile crime increasing and that juveniles were becoming more violent. Bolin (2014) stated, “Changes to the system occurred during the 1980s and 1990s, when, in response to fear of a juvenile crime wave, attempts were made by legislatures to “adultify” the juvenile justice system by introducing a series of laws designed to “get tough” on juveniles” (p. 1). It should matter what the reasons are for the troubling increase of juveniles committing crime that resembles adult crime but the measures that are needed to combat juveniles that commit adult crimes will need to be as unforgiving. For far too long, juvenile crime was not perceived as being important enough to promote as a priority for the people who were employed to deal with crime. Juveniles that committed crime were often pushed off on the state and where they were usually placed back with the parent or legal guardian. The juvenile saw that the judicial system would not ultimately hold them accountable for the crimes they committed, so to offend again was not looked upon as an unfavorable action. Most jurisdictions knew that they could not commit a lot of manpower to fighting juvenile crime so a lack-luster effort was place on combating juvenile crime. Also the punishment handed out by the courts became as insignificant as well which led law enforcement not to be as enthusiastic to deal with juvenile offenders. As times changed and the trend of not dealing with juveniles appropriately the first time, many of the juveniles who had committed crimes for a second or third time the crimes they committed became increasingly worst.