The Connections between American Legal Thought and Other Classes Assignment

The Connections between American Legal Thought and Other Classes - Assignment Example The course also studies the historic aspect of these philosophies and theories in relation to American history. This school of thought is different from other schools of thought that have been studied in the past. However, there is a thin line separating American legal thoughts and other school of thoughts taught in American law curriculum such as American legal theory. This essay will therefore investigate the relationship between American legal thought and American legal theory as the main courses taught in American law schools. American legal thought is built on issues that are of interest to the Americans. This includes social issues like legalization of gay marriages and economical issues such as American current position in international business. On the other hand, past schools of thought are established on formalist law sciences, American legal realism and social jurisprudence. The two schools of thoughts are essential to a law student. However, their significance or benefits can only be achieved if there is a close relationship between the two schools of thoughts. Unlike other schools of thought, American legal though deals or focus on legal theories and philosophy from an American perspective. Other schools of thought are established on universal laws or laws that are common worldwide such as criminal justice. American legal theory focuses on majority theories that are used to create American laws. Although this course is important to a law, student it does not provide a practical application o f these theories. American school of thought links the theoretical aspects of law with reality by relating it with modern day occurrences that are of legal concern. American legal thought has significant differences with other courses taught in the law school including the American legal theory. However, both American legal theory and American legal thought revolve on the legal aspects of American history2. American history is the chronological account of occur rences in America since the end of American civil war. In this context American legal thoughts deals with the implication of key events in the American history to the modern day American society. In addition, this school of thought also considers the influence of key historical events in the formation of modern day American law. On the other hand, American legal theory focuses on how American laws have been founded on the historical aspect of the country since the end of American civil war. This includes major issues such as how American history affects modern day court decision-making process. Legal theory also considers how American history serves as a proof to legal theories. The second relationship or connection between American legal thoughts and American legal theory is their incorporation of legal realism. American legal realism is a branch of legal philosophies that that defy the conventional analysis of US jurisprudence. In the orthodox version of the US jurisprudence, law is considered as a self-sufficient structure or rules and principles that courts use to make logical judgments in both political and judicial perspectives. This implies that the two schools of thoughts are against or challenge the ordinary view of American jurisprudence. This indicates that both the American legal theory and American legal thoughts are established on day-to-day views or occurrences on the American judicial system. This includes the social, moral, political

Youth Justice Sytem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Youth Justice Sytem - Essay Example Surely the aberrant youths cannot be prosecuted the same way as adults as there is a different degree of criminality. The young criminal is always considered as a troubled youth whose parents, the church, the state and its institutions must partake of the blame. He is deemed as a victim of circumstances, of the weakening and destruction of the family and the family values, of fads such as drug use, cults, gangs and even heavy metal music as well as a product of violence in the newspapers, TV and the cinema. On the other hand, youth crimes cannot just be handled with kid gloves or reacted to by a mere slap of the wrist as these are potent symptoms of the debilitation of the moral fabric of society and thus, the weakening of the bonds that hold tight the dam that preserves society. Surely, if youthful criminals are detained for a while and released prematurely to society, they will be back to wreak more and deadlier havoc. At first, most societies dealt with youth crime control by subscribing to the environmental theory of crime which believes that youthful crimes are caused by external and environmental factors that are mostly beyond the control of the youthful offender. When this proved to be a failure, most societies shifted to the classical theory of crime which holds that the individual's crime is a result of his exercise of his free will and thus he must be deterred from commission 2 of crimes by severe punishment (Olivo et al 52). Today, UK has decided to meet halfway and has come up with a legislation called Youth Criminal Justice Act 2003, which holds that the youthful offender must be punished but he must undergo rehabilitation, pre-emptive intervention, education and a host of other services like the concept of restorative justice offered by the Youth Justice System (Stephenson xvii). The above was triggered by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of which UK is a signatory. In 1990, UK has agreed to accede to the UN provision respecting "special protection measures covering the rights of children in the juvenile justice system" and the provision granting to each child offender the right to "family environment and family care" as well as the "right not to be subjected to torture" (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child). The UN Riyadh Guidelines 1990 also provided for early intervention which is a shared responsibility between state and the parents. Concomitant to the provisions of the Youth Justice System was the establishment of Youth Justice Board (YJB) by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Its role is to oversee and provide leadership for the improvement of the performance of the youth justice system (Smith 83). Its main responsibility is to prevent the commission of offenses by young persons (Ghate 1). Other responsibilities are the securing of facilities for the juvenile offenders, the development of models of restorative justice and the development of parenting programmes (Smith 86). The Act declared that its main objective is the reinforcement of the responsibilities of parents to exercise control over their offsprings.