Blended sentencing statutes touch on the obtrusion of juveniles and adults who have committed violence and are judged based on their age and offense. Blended sentencing statutes help judges and courts to punish the young offenders just as the adults are. In the 1980s, the legislature’s state, it was reported that the young people were growing in crime, and the term “juvenile super predator” was used as a myth where juvenile courts could apply charges of young people just as those of adults (Alida, 2016). At that time, the legislators claimed that the adults being sentenced would be used only for juvenile’s extreme crime cases.
After a transition to the youth, blended sentencing can be used in the juvenile court and hence the five different types of blended sentencing. The exclusive juvenile blend is one of the types of blended sentencing. New Mexico adopted it (cyoni89, 2020). In this type of blended sentencing, the juvenile court processes a case that is arbitrated and they decide whether the offender will receive correction either from the adult or the juvenile system. For example, a fifteen-year-old may be charged with murder and is referred to as a first degree in this kind of blended sentencing.
The second type of model is the juvenile inclusive blend. This is where the juvenile court has power and is responsible for the cases’ arbitration. In this case, once the case is processed, the offender might be sentenced in both juvenile and adult correction systems. In Minnesota and Montana, such options are applicable in this model. The third type is the juvenile contagious blend. This type of juvenile court summons the case and makes sure it’s arbitrated, and the offender can be sentenced beyond his or her age limit according to the urgency of correction. For example, in Massachusetts and Texas, such options have been enacted.
The exclusive criminal blend is another type of blended sentencing where the case is tried and summoned in an adult court and once the juvenile offender has sentenced, his conviction could either be to a juvenile court or rather the adult correction system. For example, in Florida, this option has been active for ages and it has given room for juvenile cases to be tried. In addition to that, if a criminal court inflicts a young offender’s case, the underage is sentenced as an adult.
Moreover, a criminal inclusive blend is another one of the sentences blended models where a case is summoned in an adult court, and the underage may be sentenced in both the adult and juvenile courts. Arkansas and Missouri are the only states that practice this kind of model. In a case in which the underage is found guilty, there is an authorization by the criminal court for the obtrusion of a juvenile arrangement and a criminal arrangement concurrently (Alida, 2016). During the imposition of the juvenile arrangement, the implementation of the sentences of criminals is suspended. The juveniles who are charged with violent offenses aged twelve to seventeen may be relinquished among criminals in court.