Juvinile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Juvinile - Essay Example These people are taken to regular courts and if need be are jailed after justice has been reached as per the rules of the land. On the other hand, if the offender is below 18 years of age, a different set of rules apply. These persons are tried under juvenile law where the goal is to rehabilitate rather than punish the minors for crimes done. This will be the focus of this discussion and this paper will look at various issues as pertains to a juvenile case The People v. Eric S. Considering juvenile case number A125758 of the people as the plaintiff and Eric S. as the defendant/appellant, there are a number of issues that arise. This case arose when the appellant, 17 year old Eric together with his two teenage companions attacked a 44 year old man. During the attack, the appellant hit the victim in the head with a two by four resulting in severe injuries. These injuries included a gash in the head that required seven staples, a fractured cheekbone resulting to swelling of the face, a contusion on his right forearm and a sprained knee and torn ligaments (Justia US Law, 2). In addition to this, the victim suffered a black eye and severe swelling of the knee and forearm. Being a member of the Kaiser family foundation, the victim received extensive medical treatment at a Kaiser facility. After the court hearing, the appellant was declared a ward of the juvenile court when he admitted to a felony assault count of using force likely to cause great bodily injury. The decision of the court was to release him but put him on home probation under a number of conditions (Justia US Law, 2). In addition to these conditions, he was required to pay direct victim restitution. In the restitution hearing, the district attorney asked the court to include the cost of the victim’s treatment at the Kaiser Foundation. This amounted to $51,270.06 which included $48, 619.90 for the cost incurred at the Kaiser Family plus an additional $2,650.16 for out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the victim. According to People v. Duong (2010) 180 Cal.App.4th 1533 (Duong), the court held that victim restitution ordered against adult offenders under Penal Code section 1202.4 may include amounts billed for medical services provided by a health maintenance organization (Findlaw, 5).As a result of this decision, there were a number of legal questions that arose, first of all, the question of having to pay for the cost of all the treatment that the victim received at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Would it not be fair enough if the appellant only covered the victim’s out of-pocket expenses? This is from reasoning that the victim was a member of the Kaiser HMO and thus would not have to pay for the medical services that he received from the institution. Another question that arose was the fact that direct restitution should be limited to the economic losses a victim occurs as a result of an attack and should not include medical expenses that the victim did not pay for per sonally. PART 2 In defense of the ordered restitution amount that was to include the medical care provided by the Kaiser Foundation, one critical question was answered by the case. This was the fact that ordering restitution for a victim in a juvenile case was to serve three functions which include, to rehabilitate the defender, to prevent future delinquent behavior and finally to make the victim whole by compensating him for the economic loss