What motivated Cole to take Garvey's offer of circle justice, happened to be the impending gloom that was being tried as an adult; something used only in the most extreme of cases. Most children under the age of 18 in the United States are tried for criminal offenses differently then people older then 18, usually with less severe sentencing for similar crimes. However, in cases which meet certain criteria (differs from place to place) a minor can be tried as an adult in the regular criminal justice system. In order for this to happen the crime either has to fall under the provisions of statutory exclusion for his state, or be given a Judicial Waiver by their judge. Usually, this would require the crime being that of a violent or aggressive nature, and possibly the child having a history of similar activities. In general, the Juvenile criminal system is focused on rehabilitation as opposed to straight out punishment as the Adult court is. Being tried as an adult essentially means that the government has given up trying to help you, and has decided that society will only ever be safe with you locked away from it. Ben Mikaelsen clearly understood the system, infusing Cole's circumstances with almost every feature of the system concerning minors being tried as adults. Cole was at this point quite clearly a danger to society who had already been through the Juvenile system many times, without any change in his behavior, thus he was finally about to be given the full punishment for beating Peter Driscal. It's quite understandable why he would jump at the chance of again avoiding the reality of a real, unrestrained punishment. Avoiding this, and choosing circle justice is his final shot at being helped, rather than truly punished for his actions.
Works Cited:
Protass, Harlan J. "When Do Kids Get Tried as Adults?" Slate. 14 Aug. 2007. 29 June 2008 <http://www.slate.com/id/2172226/>.
"Juvenile Justice." PBS Frontline. 30 June 2008 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/juvenile/stats/states.html>.
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1 comment:
Are you advocating that he should be "truly punished", or do you think that he could possibly be truly punished on the island?
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