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Should young juveniles who are charged with adult crime
Should young juveniles who are charged with adult crime
Should Juveniles Be Charged as Adults in the Criminal Justice System
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Murder is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought.” Every year violent crimes are committed and, even worse, the crimes being committed are sometimes by minors. Committing a violent crime is viewed as being wrong, no matter who commits it. The question then becomes, should minors be tried as adults for violent crimes? Despite the fact that murder and violent crimes are viewed as wrong, minors under the age of eighteen have been tried in adult court for violent crimes, a travesty born out by statistics, and individuals cases. Minors are committing crimes all the time, some of which it is questionable to try them as adults. Whether they are violent crimes or not, minors should not be tried as adults. Research has shown that children who are prosecuted in the adult court system are more likely to commit a crime again than those being prosecuted in juvenile (“Children”). Crimes are meant to be stopped, not meant to be committed again. If the same crimes are being committed, then nothing has changed. That does not mean every child who is tried as an adult will …show more content…
was convicted of arson at the age of sixteen. Rodney was sentenced to eight years in adult prison. Shortly after he arrived at Clemens Unit, Rodney was raped by an inmate. He asked the prison for protective custody, but was denied. After being repeatedly raped by inmates and robbed, he decided to hang himself. Rodney stayed in a coma for four months before he passed away (Barbour 82). Seeing and hearing about teen suicide is viewed as being tragic and gut wrenching. By trying minors as adults, the children are being put into harm. Minors in adults prisons are much more likely to be attacked with a weapon than minors in juvenile (Barbour 82). Most states minimum age requirement to be tried as an adult can range from ten to eighteen-years-old. In Indiana, the lowest age you can be to be tried as an adult goes as low as
Within the last five years, violent offenses by children have increased 68 percent, crimes such as: murder, rape, assault, and robbery. Honestly, with these figures, it is not surprising at all that the Juveniles Courts focus less on the children in danger, and focus more on dangerous children. This in fact is most likely the underlying reasoning behind juveniles being tried as adults by imposing harsher and stiffer sentences. However, these policies fail to recognize the developmental differences between young people and
Throughout and for many years there has been a lot of controversy on how to trial someone who has committed a crime under the age of 18. A lie will be a lie even if it 's serious or innocent and that 's why just like a crime will always be a crime, no matter what the situation is. The age of a person who has committed murder shouldn 't be an issue or a complication. Many advocate that the juvenile is just a child, but despised that I believe that is no justification or defense for anyone who does a crime. America and the nation need to apprehend that juveniles that are being conducted to life in prison is not just for one small incident or crime, but for several severe crimes according to Jennifer Jenkins, Juvenile Justice Information
The adult age requirement in the US is 18 years old by law. If you are under the age of 18, you cannot vote, rent a hotel room, or even purchase a lottery ticket and you are considered a minor. In some cases though minors are convicted as adults, go to adult prison, and get life without parole. The courts deem these minors the worst of the worst and they are untreatable and are not capable of rehabilitation just like Nathan Ibanez, who murdered his mother and is serving life without parole. Juveniles have gained more rights from the Supreme Court in the three following cases: in Kent v. United States it was determined juveniles must have due process, in the case In re Gault it was determined juveniles must have access to a lawyer and know
If children are too young to vote, drink alcohol, drive, and go watch rated R movies, why should they be tried as adults? It has always been an issue if whether an adolescent, under the age of eighteen, convicted of violent crimes should be tried as an adult or not. There are children as young as eleven years old that are being sent to adult prisons (Krikorian 2003). In such cases the jury does not take into consideration the fact that they are too young to stand trial, their brains are not fully developed, and that they are capable of rehabilitating.
once the minor has committed a violent crime, they are no longer a kid. The minor had the ability to know right from wrong, but he still chose to commit the heinous crime anyway. Choosing to commit this violent crime means that the minor chose to act as an adult and must be held accountable. Once the minor has made the decision to act as an adult, they must be treated as an adult. If we do not teach minors that what they did has consequences they will never learn. Arguments can be made that minors should not be treated as adults and while these arguments do have merit, they are not my beliefs. In my opinion, minors who commit violent crimes need to be tried as adults. Justice does not discriminate when it comes to age. Right is right, and wrong is wrong and the wrong should be punished equally.
However, many states recognize that minors, especially children, are at a confusing impressionable, chaotic age of transition. If a teen commits a murder, that youth should be given the opportunity to set his or her life straight. Juveniles still have a lot of growing up to do. It may mean many years in prison and loss of their freedom, but it would also mean that there is at least a chance for a young life to reform.
There has always been controversies as to whether juvenile criminals should be tried as adults or not. Over the years more and more teenagers have been involved in committing crimes. In some cases the juries have been too rough on the teens. Trying teens as adults can have a both positive and negative views. For example, teens that are detained can provide information about other crimes, can have an impact in social conditions, and serve as experience; however, it can be negative because teens are still not mature enough for that experience, they are exposed to adult criminals; and they will lose out on getting an education.
crimes are committed. In 2008, seventy-three thousand of these violent crimes were committed by juveniles. When you hear about murderers, rapists, and other criminals, automatically, your mind set wants these criminals sentenced to prison for a very long time. There is no second guessing when it comes to these extreme criminals, they should be punished for the severe crimes committed. Now, lets say the criminal was a fifteen year old, suddenly people begin to question if giving them the same sentencing as an “adult” would be appropriate. Many will say it is wrong to try a juvenile as an adult for various reasons, but by committing these violent crimes they stopped being children and should be tried as adults. Regardless of the age, criminals are criminals and they should all be tried the same, age does not define adulthood. Juvenile crimes are no different from adult crimes, teens know the difference between wrong and right, ignorance and foolishness are two different things, if the criminal has the ability to plan out the crime then they will be prepared to do the time.
Thousands of kid criminals in the United States have been tried as adults and sent to prison (Equal Justice Initiative). The debate whether these kids should be tried as adults is a huge controversy. The decision to try them or to not try them as an adult can change their whole life. “Fourteen states have no minimum age for trying children as adults” (Equal Justice Initiative). Some people feel that children are too immature to fully understand the severity of their actions. People who are for kids to be tried as adults feel that if they are old enough to commit the crime, then they are old enough to understand what they are doing. There are people who feel that children should only be tried as adults depending on the crime.
The United States has been affected by a number of crimes committed by juveniles. The juvenile crime rate has been increasing in recent years. Everyday more juveniles commit crimes for various reasons. They act as adults when they are not officially adults. There is a discussion about how juveniles should be punished if they commit heinous crimes. While many argue that juveniles who commit serious crimes, such as murder, should be treated as adults, the fact is, juveniles under the age of eighteen, are not adults, and should not be treated as such.
Juveniles deserve to be tried the same as adults when they commit certain crimes. The justice systems of America are becoming completely unjust and easy to break through. Juvenile courts haven’t always been known to the everyday person.
Dylan Ory Mrs. Baer October 17, 2017 Kids shouldn’t be charged as adults Why are kids getting put into the adult prisons for committing a crime, when they are not even old enough to drive. From reading the four articles on kids committing crimes, reading the novel lord of the flies, and also listening to the podcast Serial. Even though these kids are committing these crimes we should not be treating them as adult and sentencing them to life in prison. After reading the the articles, the novel, and the podcast, I think that kids should not be charged as an adult In the first article that I read called “juveniles don’t deserve life sentences” by Gail Garinger. In the article is says that, “There is a enormous capacity of children that are capable of changing and
A report issued by Amnesty International in 1998, based on data from the Department of Justice and from individual states, estimates that as many as 200,000 youth under the age of eighteen, some as young as thirteen, are prosecuted in adult court annually. The action of sending children into the adult criminal justice system contrasts greatly with the traditional view that delinquent children need help to turn their lives around in order to succeed in their futures. Judges are said to refrain from giving the younger children harsh punishments, even if they commit the exact same crime as someone eighteen or older. Additionally, there are problems with trial by jury in regard to the juvenile cases; juries are just regular citizens and most of them tend to sympathize with kids who are being tried severely. Lastly, offenders who are tried in adult court before legally being considered adults will face many hardships when their release date comes, leading to likely failure to flourish in the rest of their lives. Transferring juveniles to criminal court puts unnecessary strain on the already fearful child and therefore if the offender is 18 or younger, they should stay in juvenile court to receive their sentence and become free citizen who can have a positive impact on their community and society as a whole.
Today?s court system is left with many difficult decisions. One of the most controversial being whether to try juveniles as adults or not. With the number of children in adult prisons and jails rising rapidly, questions are being asked as to why children have been committing such heinous crimes and how will they be stopped. The fact of the matter is that it is not always the children's fault for their poor choices and actions; they are merely a victim of their environment or their parents. Another question asked is how young is too young. Children who are too young to see an R rated film unaccompanied are being sent to adult prisons. The only boundaries that seem to matter when it comes to being an adult are laws that restrain kids from things such as alcohol, pornography, and other materials seen as unethical. Children that are sent to adult prison are going to be subjected to even more unprincipled ideas and scenes. When children can be sent to jail for something as minor as a smash and grab burglary, the judicial system has errors. The laws that send juveniles to adult prisons are inhumane, immoral, and unjust. Kids are often incompetent, which leads to unfair trials. Adult prisons are also very dangerous for minors, and in many cases this leads to more juvenile crimes.
Juvenile offenders should not be tried as adults because there are differences between a teenager and adult. A teenager is not mature as an adult. Some teenagers are capable to change their behavior and are capable to recognize their own mistakes. It is a huge mistake for juveniles offenders to be tried as adults and send them to adult court and prison . There are many factors why they should not be tried as adult.