by James A. Gondles Jr.

About the author: James A. Gondles Jr. is a contributor to Corrections Today.

Congress, the president, our governors and our state legislators have embarked on a sobering approach to juvenile justice. Recently, state and federal legislation has been passed which allows prosecutors to determine where a juvenile is tried—in juvenile or adult court. That’s wrong. The American scales of justice should be equal or at least we should constantly strive to make them so. A judge, and not the prosecutor, should make the decision on which court a juvenile goes to. The prosecutor’s job is to present the state’s or public’s case against a juvenile so accused. To allow the prosecutor to determine which court a juvenile goes to also...