Recently, authorities have tried various means of addressing the problem of juvenile crime including teenage curfew laws, parental responsibility laws, and after-school and early intervention programs. The outrage over serious, violent offenses committed by juveniles has revived criminal procedures deemed unjust in 1899, when the Illinois Juvenile Court Act established the nation’s first juvenile justice system. Its purpose was to eliminate the brutality inflicted upon children within the adult justice system and to provide facilities dedicated to rehabilitation, instead of incarceration. Recently, however, many argue that juvenile offenders who commit adult crimes ought to withstand the adult punishment.

Many supporters of adult punishments for juveniles argue that the juvenile justice system enables children to commit crimes by exacting minor punishments as well as expunging juveniles’ records when they turn eighteen. As a Newsday editorial states, “Right...