Ex 1: How can one physical body, less than 18 calendar years old, be both, a juvenile, and at times, an adult?

Ex 2: When a juvenile is prosecuted as an adult, who makes the decision they are an adult?

Does the juvenile even understand the process?

Ex 3: There are times when juvenile offenders escape detection and prosecution until they are an adult, then courts are automatically prosecuting these folks as adults?

Ex 4: Juvenile Offenders and juvenile victims?

Ex 5: Borderline, Juvenile/Adult offenders, being prosecuted by victim's parents?

We will be addressing these issues, and others.

Often we are questioned, whose side do you advocate or represent? We are NOT siding with the offender, nor, do we side with side/s opposing the offender, our concerns are with the erosion of humanitarian treatment and consideration, in a broad sense. Many take exception to our comment, reminding us, have you forgotten what these offenders, juvenile or not, have done to their victims? Our response: it is not our position nor should it be society's position, to inflict anything or exact revenge on these offenders, and we are neither judge nor jury -that is what we have courts for-, neither are we the higher being that will eventually judge them someday.

The erosion of humanitarian rights of these offenders throughout our judicial system and in the offenders LifeAfter the judicial system, is causing many problems in our society.

ENTRY INTO THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM: Given that our judicial system has been considering juveniles as adults at younger and younger ages (some as young as 8 or 10 years old), it is conceivable that a juvenile could be considered for civil commitment following their sentence. This cannot be forgotten.

LifeAfter THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM: Today's legislatures have enacted laws which require ex-offenders to register with local law enforcement, and many laws include juveniles, because it is feared that they may commit another crime. Proof of a crime or criminal act is not required, and due process is nonexistent, merely the presence of an earlier conviction for a listed crime (the listed crimes are constantly growing and crime severity is not considered). Further, under this scenario these ex-offenders have been denied recognition as a person, under these registry laws (considered a piece of property to whimsically control).

Humanitarian rights are our focus, they are a sign of a maturing society and not one of the Stone Age. If we permit legislators to enact laws to circumvent humanitarian rights of these ex-offenders, how long will it be before legislation begins to erode our daily lives (we already are being monitored extensively in the public and without our knowledge), these laws which we see only applying to offenders are effectively eroding the very essence of our constitutions, both state and federal?

While "humanitarian" applies to both juveniles and adults, as to juveniles it must be stressed, because with juveniles they do lack the reasoning skills we normally attribute to adults. The teen and pre teen years are the time when parents and the law make decisions for juveniles. Traditionally we have said that when a person reaches the age of majority they then reach a point where they are expected to be able to reason right from wrong on their own, hence they then are responsible for making their own decisions and the law recognizes that, yet redefines it for juveniles.

As we focus on various issues affecting juveniles we must be constantly aware that, although physically a juvenile, the law may have treated them as an adult, causing them to be in the physical circumstances that they are in. When the law treats juveniles as adults, it seems that society sends a very confusing message to juveniles, and if we as adults cannot always make sense of it, how can we expect juveniles to.