Juveniles Tried as Adults

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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. One of the advantages of detaining teens as adults is that they are taken into custody and questioned for information about any other clubs or gangs with whom they might be involved. There are some programs trying to track down gangs; on of these is the National Gang Center (NGC). “The NGC is the first gang survey in the country that annually catch an average of 300 gang members from teen evidence.” (Howell, 52) Having programs and organizations like this has helped a lot by putting criminals behind bars and straightening them out. Another positive thing about trying juveniles as adults is that those juveniles are taken from their neighborhood, and by doing this it opens the eyes of other teens who are around watching everything that happens. “We once arrested a teen right in the middle of his block. You should've seen everyone out of their houses watching the incident.” ( Chief Hernandez, 62) According to his words he seemed surprised on how of an impact it was to the rest of the community watching. Reports showed that gang violence decreased in that neighborhood that year. Teens look out of what i... ... middle of paper ... ...g really affected by the outcome of the situation. By stopping these hard sentences on juveniles, it will give teens the chance of a lifetime to change their path. This way they won’t have to endure all this cruel punishment and get traumatized for life. Today it is mostly parents who can control their children by monitoring their actions, but also it’s up to the juries an trying them with a lesser sentence or teaching them a lesson. Works Cited Freehan, Jennifer. More Youths Certified to Stand Trial as Adults. 13 May. 2013. Web. 9 Jan. 2014 Gerdes, Louise I. Juvenile Crime Opposing Views. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. 2012. Print. Haugen, David and Susan Musser. Teen Rights and Freedom Juvenile Justice. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. 2013. Print. Thompson, Lisa. Judge: Teen gets’ Break of his Life’ in Robbery Sentence. 08 Nov. 2013. Web. 08 Jan. 2014.

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