Makenzie Carlson
Mrs. Gutzwiler
BTC English 12
Unit Six
30 March 2018
Juvenile Justice
There are more kids committing murders than you think. There a lot of of teenage killers, like as young as eleven years. Some think that if they should be convicted as adult. There are people out there that think that the child murders should be given a second chance and be tried as juveniles. Children that are committing murder should be tried as adults. A phrase that is used in this case of juveniles committing heinous crimes is "Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time."
Here has been a whole lot of teens being tried as adults but there are a few cases where the crime was so horrific that they were give a life or multiple life sentences. Youngsters are seen by society as
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blameless and unadulterated, without malice. Be that as it may, some of the time the inconceivable happens – kids kill. Such was the stunning story of two 10-year-old's, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson from England, who murdered and ravaged the 2-year-old James Bulger.
On that decisive day, the disturbed young men were playing hooky and meandering around a bustling shopping center, taking desserts, batteries and a thing of paint – that were later to be found at the murder scene. Calmly watching kids, they were searching for a kid to take. The plan was to lead the kid to the bustling street and push him into the way of approaching vehicles. James Patrick Bulger was conceived in 1990 to Ralph and Denise Bulger - a couple who had beforehand lost a stillborn little girl. Contently happy and healthy, James filled them with delight and kindness. His life was simply beginning.Everything changed on February the 12th, 1993. James was out shopping with his mom in the New Strand Shopping Center close Kirkby, England. His mom Denise was quickly diverted inside a butcher's shop on the lower floor of the mall. A moment later she noticed her child had vanished. James had been walking by the open entryway of the shop when Thompson and Venables got his eye and baited him out of the shopping center at 3:42 pm. Sometimes he ran ahead, other times he fell behind. The boys were walking around until they reached a canal closeby and went under a bridge to an
quiet area. There, they dropped James on his head. Venables and Thompson ran away, leaving the him crying. A woman saw James crying and assumed he was just playing with the kids. Bruised and crying, James keep followed the boys around. Several people saw them and later described a boy crying and older boys kicking him around. “The assault began with the boys pouring the stolen paint from the mall into James’ eyes. They pulled off his pants and underwear, mutilated his foreskin and inserted batteries into his anus. They kicked, threw stones and eventually smashed his skull with an iron bar. When they believed James was dead, they laid his body on the tracks, covering his bleeding head with bricks and rubbish, making it look like an accident. They left just before the train came. The forensic pathologist of the case, Dr. Alan Williams, stated that James suffered so many injuries – 42 in total – that he was not able to confirm any one of them as the fatal blow, beyond the fact that he had died before the train cut his body in half(bizarrepedia.com)”. The young men admitted it and were found guilty on the 24th of November, 1993, and got a sentence that would keep them in jail until they reach the age of 25. This choice made Venables and Thompson the most youthful killers in present day English history and the most youthful sentenced for the twentieth century. This is what I mean by horrific crimes. He was so young and i know they were to but like the phase states " if you are old enough to do the crime, you are old enough to do the time". Works Cited Anderson, Scott. "Greg Ousley Is Sorry For Killing His Parents. Is That Enough?." New York Times 2012: n. pag. Print. Arvesen, Amelia. “DA Charges Teen with Murder in Longmont Stabbing, Seeks to Prosecute as Adult.” Longmont Times-Call, Times Call Crime, 22 Nov. 2017, www.timescall.com/news/ crime/ci_31472186/aiden-von-grabow-murder-longmont-stabbing. Chen, Stephanie. “Boy, 12, Faces Grown up Murder Charges.” CNN, Cable News Network, 15 Mar. 2010, www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/10/pennsylvania.young.murder.defendant /index.html. Garinger, Gail. "Juveniles Don't Deserve Life Sentences." New York Times 2012: n. pag. Print. Jenkins, Jennifer. “On Punishment and Teen Killers.” Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, 2 Aug. 2011, jjie.org/2011/08/02/jennifer-bishop-jenkins-on-punishment-teen-killers/. “Kids Who Kill: Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.” Bizarrepedia RSS, www.bizarrepedia.com/venables-and-thompson/. Lundstrom, Marjie. "Kids Are Kids- Until They Commit Crimes." Sacramento Bee 2001: n. pag. Print. Romero, McKenzie. “Judge: Double Murder Case for 16-Year-Old Girl Will Remain in Adult Court.” DeseretNews.com, Deseret News, 8 Sept. 2016, www.deseretnews.com/article /865661943/Judge-Double-murder-case-for-16-year-old-girl-will-remain-in-adult-court.html.
Reaves, Jessica. ¨Should the Law Treat Kids and Adults Differently?¨ Time.com, Time Inc, 17 May 2001 content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,110232,00.html.
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
With the current crime rates on the rise, the justice system is trying to reduce adult criminals by strictly prosecuting juvenile offenders as adults. Many people believe that in doing so will scare the criminals back on the straight path and help to lower the crime rate. Trying a juvenile as an adult will have no effect on reducing crimes, corrective behaviors, or a juvenile’s comprehension ability.
Being charged with adult sentences is a very harsh punishment considering their age. Andrew Medina was fifteen when he got sentenced to life without parole because of a murder that he possibly did not commit. Officers also alleged that he was part of a gang and sent him to spend the rest of his life in a very strict prison. Trevor Jones also got sentenced to life without parole at the age of seventeen because of reckless manslaughter. Even though it was an accident, the victim’s death occurred while Trevor intended armed robbery and was accused of felony murder and will spend the rest of his life in prison. Jacob Ind was sentenced to life without parole. At the age of fifteen, he killed his mother and stepfather in order to put an end to the all kinds of abuse they were putting him through. The jury did not recognize the fact that it was primarily self-defense and accused him of first degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence. These are the cases of only three kids who got life without parole but there are so many more. These kids miss out on so many things in life because they will spend most of it locked in a cell. One accident or mistake can ruin their lives forever. That is why I think juveniles should be tried in juvenile
Many people assume that teenagers should not be sentenced as adults, because their brain is not fully developed. On the other hand, people believe if teenagers commit crimes then they need to have consequences for their actions. According to the Campaign for Youth Justices, about 250,000 teenagers are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults every year in the United States (Campaign for Youth Justices 3). Therefore, charging teenagers as adults is fair, because they are human beings just like adults.
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.
Juveniles are more than just kids. They are capable of doing anything an adult is capable of doing. One has probably heard the saying, “If you want to be treated like an adult, then act like an adult.” If they’re going to do crimes that “only” adults are capable of doing, then they should treated like an adult and be tried and sentenced like one. Imagine being close to a murder victim, wouldn’t you want them to feel hell? “How would you feel if you never got to see your child alive again while their killer served only a short sentence before being released from jail?” (hchs1259). This quote hits hard. One can only imagine being in the position of a parent whose child was murdered.
Is it fair to give juveniles life sentences? On June 25 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, stated that “Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features- among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate the risks and consequences. 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.” Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison or adult jail until legal age. Due to the facts that many are still young and aren’t over eighteen.
Age is a factor in why Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison. As Paul Thompson states in his article Startling Finds on Teenage Brains from the Sacramento Bee, published on May 25, 2001 “ ...These frontal lobes,which inhibit our violent passions, rash action and regulate our emotions are vastly immature throughout the teenage years.” he also says that “The loss[of brain tissue] was like a wildfire, and you see it in every teenager.”. This loss of brain tissue plays a role in the erratic behavior of teens, they cannot properly assess their emotions and thoughts. During this period of brain tissue loss teens are unpredictable, adults do not know what their teen’s next move will be, teens themselves do not even know what their next move will be. As we grow our brains develop, therefore teen brains are not fully developed, so they cannot be held to the same standards as adults.
In juvenile court, the judge must decide if the teen gets tried as an adult or minor. If the juvenile gets sent to a juvenile detention center for murder they will live their lives there until they are twenty one, but if tried as an adult they will serve so many years in prison. There is a grey area of law for certain teens that commit serious crimes. In this case of the grey law, each state gets to decide upon the particular state how they person is tried. For most cases pertaining to the juvenile courts are case by case bases. Many believe that it isn’t fair for the teens to be locked up with adults. The U.S. House of Representatives made the Juvenile Justice Act encouraging states to find alternatives to having the teens go through such a process with people much older than themselves (Locked Up…).
He never made it to the park. That same day, the little boy's savagely beaten body was discovered outside the park area (Seifert 98). Jon Venables and Robert Thompson of Liverpool, England, made international headlines in November 1994, when they were convicted of murdering James Bulger, age two. The two boys, both ten at the time of the slaying, lured James away from his mother in a shopping mall, took him to a nearby railroad track, beat him brutally and left him to be cut in half by a train (Seifert 56). Many experts do not accept that biology alone creates children who kill.
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.
For example, the court has already struck down the death penalty and the life in prison without parole for juveniles or for young offenders convicted of non-homicide. According to the article, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life In Prison,” Paul Garinger states that “Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain that are responsible for controlling thoughts, actions, and emotions are not fully developed. They can not be held to the same standards when they commit terrible crimes.” If this is true, there is no reason to treat juveniles as adults.
One reason why juvenile offenders should not be tried as adult is because they are far from adulthood. Many teenager who have committed a crime has a different background. For example, they have suffered sex abused, their parents have been drug addicted , or have been in prison for many years. There are many factors
Juveniles commit different crimes because they want to murder people for revenge, peer pressure and many other reasons. The results of committing crimes have consequences and punishments. Juveniles can be sentenced to prison or be sentenced to a mental hospital. Depending on how small or big the crime is, juveniles can be sentenced to prison or mental hospital for a few years when committing a minor crime or for many years when committing a huge crime like murdering people . When teen’s brain are not fully developed as adults, it causes them to have revenge, peer pressure, and many other reasons.