Juveniles Tried as Adults: Controversy and Consequences

For decades, the contentious issue on whether or not juveniles should be tried as adults for heinous crimes has stirred up a gargantuan amount of disputation. However, juveniles are taken into account as “children” only under certain circumstances. When the situation comes to smoking, drinking, voting and watching rated-R movies, juveniles are merely children. However, when the circumstances are absolute, juries are so compelled to have children be tried as adults when juveniles commit severe crimes that courts go to the extent of sentencing juveniles to long-term punishments. Nonetheless, juveniles who are tried as adults arise significantly more problems than they had before, thus, juveniles should not be tried as adults in spite of that it causes so much controversy and is

For instance, Kagan states, “It prevents taking into account the family and home environment that surrounds him- and from which he cannot usually extricate himself- no matter how brutal or dysfunctional” . In other words, Kagan argues that the courts do not acknowledge the juveniles age, mindset, family, or home environment. Such aspects shape the juveniles into the individual they are today. Kagan identifies that the origin of the predicament is the type of home the adolescent comes from. Kagan’s idea comes into play in Scott Anderson’s New York Times’ article, “Greg Ousley Is Sorry for Killing His Parents. Is That enough?” where fourteen year old Greg Ousley inhumanely murders his own parents. For example, Anderson states, “Greg says Jobie [Greg’s father] could go says without uttering a single word and can recall only one occasion when he told Greg that he loved him – and this, Greg says, occurred when Jobie was drunk… Sometimes the