A city has built a bridge over a river and it decides to charge a toll to everyone who crosses. For one year, the city charges a variety of different tolls and records information on how many drivers cross the bridge. The city thus gathers information about elasticity of demand. If the city wishes to raise as much revenue as possible from the tolls, where will the city decide to charge a toll: in the inelastic portion of the demand curve, the elastic portion of the demand curve, or the unit elastic portion? Explain.

Delinquency and Penalty

            There are many divisions of law in this particular case juvenile law is the subject.  The parameters of the case are 15-year old, stealing a car, driving without a license, and eventually crashing into a storefront.  The sentencing could be 6 years in prison, min 200 community service hours, and 2 weeks in county’s boot camp program.  This paper discusses the response to Mrs. Ingrim, the juvenile justice process, the adult justice process, and the judge’s possible reaction.

 

The Incident

            Grand theft auto is the crime that Ms. Ingrim’s 15 year old committed.  The crime involves automobiles or other moving vehicles and it is considered a felony charge and the penalty is prison (Mince-Didier, 2015).  The dollar amount is what qualifies this crime as a felony and not petty theft.  The dollar range in this case is between $500 and $1000 (Mince-Didier, 2015).  This is the explanation that would be given to Mrs. Ingrim concerning the reason why her son was arrested in the first place.  The next step in the explanation process deals with the juvenile justice process.    

 

Juvenile Justice System

            The process is simple at the beginning.  The police officers either arrests or is presented with a juvenile offender.  At this point the police officer can either divert the child out of the system by remanding him or her to the guardian, and/or parent (OJJDP).  However, in certain situations such as grand theft auto this cannot be done.  The child in question will undergo processing and then most likely be held.  It is against the law for adults and children to be held in the same place therefore a separate and secure room will be given to the juveniles (OJJDP).

            The juvenile probation department takes over the custody of the child.  At this point the prosecutor would make the determination to either set the child free by dismissal or take the child to court or handle the situation informally (OJJDP).  In this particular case the prosecutor will definitely take the route of trial because there is enough evidence to convict the child of grand theft auto.  The child will not be held in the secure room or section of the police station the entire time.  Most likely the child will be sent to a juvenile detention center to be held there (OJJDP).

            There is the possibility that after adjudication the child may be remanded back to the same detention facility that he or she was held in during the trial process.  The prosecutors can either take this matter through juvenile court or adult court.  In this particular case the child was only 15 years old and no deaths were involved so the juvenile court would be the best bet (OJJDP).  There is two choices delinquency or waiver. In this particular case there will not be a waiver so the case will be scheduled for hearing.  The next step is the disposition plan basically an assessment of the youth’s situation and then the next step in the process.  The evidence is presented to the judge for his or her decision.

            There are two ways to defend the child: intent or consent.  Intent refers to the child’s reason for taking the car in the first place.  Being that the child was 15 (or just being a child for that matter) took the car for a joyride (Mince-Didier, 2015).  This is actually a lesser crime; a misdemeanor.  Consent means the owner allowed the child to take the care for a specific purpose with the agreement that he or she bring it back.  Most likely this was not the case.  Since the child is not going to the adult system the explanation of it will be brief.

Adult Justice System

Typically when adults hit the jail, they are not released to their parents by the police officers.  They are not given separate accommodations they are put in general population or the drunk tank.  When the case is arraigned the accused either returns to jail or gets out on bond (Internet Brands, 2015).  If the case is more severe bail is revoked and they remain in jail until the trial.  The decision of the judge in both cases is different as well.

 

Judge’s Conclusion

            The judge will take into consideration several facts before passing judgment.  He or she will look at the age of the accused, the number of times he or she has been arrested for the same crime or similar crimes, the severity of the crimes that have been committed, and the different types of punishments and the effects on the accused.  Based on the information that was provided Mrs. Ingrim’s child has not committed this type of offense before. 

            Usually first time offenders receive more lenient judgments than those who are not.  Also, the age of the child is taken into consideration as well.  Most likely the sentence for the 15 year old will be as follows: the child will complete 200 hours of community service in the neighborhood where the vehicle was stolen and at the storefront.  Furthermore, the 15 year old will spend time in the boot camp before the community service begins and will be remanded to house arrest while during the time of community service.     

 

 

 

 

References

1)     Internet Brands. (2015). The Criminal Justice Process.  Retrieved February 8, 2015 from criminal.lawyer.com/criminal-law-basics/the-criminal-justice-process.html

2)     Mince-Didier, A. (2015). Grand Theft Auto.  Retrieved February 8, 2015 from www.criminaldefenselawyer.com

3)     Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). (n.d.). Juvenile Justice System Structure & Process.  Retrieved February 8, 2015 from www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/structure_process/case.html

4)     The criminal justice system. Retrieved February 8, 2015 from https://victimsofcrime.org/help-for-crime-victims/get.../the-criminal-justice-system