American Government and Politics Today Essay

The courts, therefore, plays a significant role in ensuring that there is uniformity in the decision on abortion in all states. It has been argued that this is undemocratic since the decision is made by justices who are not elected officials. In the situation where the ruling was to be overturned, the authority to legalize abortion would fall back to the states. This would reflect the majority opinion since the state legislators are elected through a democratic voting process. However, it would mean that there will be significant differences in the laws in conservative and prochoice states. This would mean that the women desiring to seek an abortion would simply need to cross state lines to obtain one which would have no effect on illegalizing abortion. States should not have their own say in the abortion laws as a result of this. Therefore, the courts play a huge role in unifying the state laws on abortion and states should not be allowed to have a say on the legality of abortion within their own borders.

Should juveniles charged with serious crimes be treated as adults?

Juveniles have managed to escape punishment as a result of the justice system providing them with a leeway for their age. Juvenile justice advocates say that those below the legal age such as teenagers should not be treated as adults even for the same crime. However, research has shown that the number of juvenile offenders is increasing at an alarming rate which has made many juvenile justice advocates to join their counterparts in arguing for reforms that protect the public interest and serve justice to the offenders. Children under the age of seven years or ten years in some states are infants and they are incapable of solely committing any acts that they are charged with since in most cases, they are unaware of the wrongfulness of the act. However, where it is determined that the child was aware of the wrongfulness of the act, the child should be given a chance to change after serving some time in juvenile prison.Children above this infant age but below the legal age who are mostly teenagers are capable of criminal intent because they are well aware of the wrongfulness of their actions.

Every case that is brought in court is unique in its own way and policy should not treat all crimes as if they are the same. If it is felt that a child is going to continue being a danger to their society for his or her entire life then the society needs to be protected. A child who commits a serious crime should be evaluated whether they can be rehabilitated or not. For those who can be rehabilitated, they should be given a chance to live a free life and to be productive after they spend some time in a correctional facility. However, for repeat offenders, it can be assumed that they will continue being a menace to society and thus should be convicted as adults. This is because the main purpose of the criminal justice system is to provide for the safety of the public, to rehabilitate criminals and compensate victims.

What if unauthorized immigrants were granted citizenship?

There would a sudden influx of immigrants to the United States if there was some policy that granted immigrants citizenship since they would not have access to the other benefits that citizens have. These include healthcare insurance, permission to work in the U.S. And they would also have valid social security. The increase in number of immigrants would also come as a result of criminals fleeing their countries to gain start over in the U.S. The family members of the immigrants who had come in either legally or illegally will all flock to the U.S. which is another reason for the influx of immigrants......