In "Juvenile Justice is Delinquent," Rita Kramer paints a lucid picture of the inadequacies and troubles plaguing the juvenile court system of America, focusing primarily on the juvenile correctional system in New York. Mrs. Kramer points out that the juvenile justice system while adequately dealing with the typical nonviolent criminal during the 50's, has been grossly outdated by the insurgence of the more violent youthful offenders of today. Kramer further cites the tendency of today's juvenile courts to focus largely on minute technicalities rather than the youths" delinquent behavior as key to the decline of the juvenile justice system today. Proposals of open trial access to the public and media as well as faster interventions and sanctions subsequent to juvenile crimes follow, as the author cuts a clear path towards improvement and revitalization for today's unjust juvenile justice system. .
Mrs. Kramer, in her critique of the Juvenile Justice System, suggests in her statement that it costs $85,000 to incarcerate a youth that long term rehabilitation. Mrs. Kramer lacks to mention, however, that it would arguably cost far more to rehabilitate the offender, especially when said offender displays a tendency toward violence, as she claims most do. The author is also clearly in error upon her portrayal of the juvenile correctional process as a walk in the park. In the last years I have come to know several juveniles acquainted with the correctional process who describe detention in modern juvenile correctional facilities as anything but easy. Otherwise, I find no fault in "Juvenile Justice is Delinquent." .
