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What do you think about a 16 - 17 year old in jail? On June 25, 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that Juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it violated the Eighth Amendment to ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However four justices strongly disagreed arguing that mandatory sentences rejected the will of American society that heinous crimes committed by juveniles should always be sentenced with a lifetime in prison. However from my point of view juveniles should not be sentenced to life time in jail.
First of all everyone deserves a second chance. Specially because they are only teen and they are in the early ages of life and because they are young they don’t deserve to spend lots of time in jail. In the article “ On Punishment and Teen Killers Jennifer Jenkins published on Aug 2, 2011 On Juveniles Justice Information Exchange that,”...the United States was “ sentencing children to die in prison.” What does
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that mean it means that at a young age are being put in jail for long periods of time and while they are in jail they miss out on first time experiences in life. Secondly 80% of the times teenagers are immature even in their early adult ages.
They don’t measure their actions . Teenagers in the early adulthood are acting just like a 13 year old would. They don't care what comes after their actions. Teenages don’t have the capabilty they think what is going to come after their actions. they don't think of the harm they can cause to others nor do they think about the punishment they can have as an outcome. Another thing about them is that they are very impulsive they get in trouble for something and they right away think that their parents hate them and they sometime think of hurting them without thinking what they can get into. “ On the article written by Scott Anderson of Greg Ousley Is Sorry For Killing His Parents, Published on the New York Times on July 19, 2012, Anderson points out that Ousley said “ I had been thinking about killing them every time I get mad.” in that sentence he is proving that he had been thinking about hurting his parents for a long time
now. Another thing about teenagers is that they don’t measure their consequences. They go off being bad without fully thinking things out. They don’t think that they can get into trouble for their actions. They don't stop before they do it to think about what the outcome is going to be. The smaller in age they are the more immature they are because they know less. Studies have shown that teens don't get fully developed until they are in their mid 20’s . Marjie Lundstrom mentions in her article “ Kids are kids-Unless they commit crime published on March 1,2001 on the Sacramento Bee that Thomas A Preciado was fourteen when he stabbed to death a mini mart clerk ” that shows how impulsive they can be but poor 14 year of shouldn’t stay his whole life in jail he has so much to do and learn about he should have the right to a second chance at experimenting life. Something else to take into consideration is the Environment that they would be living in. Teengers of ages 14-19 shouldn’t be put in maximum security prisons where they have all the dangerous gangs and all these criminals that are charged for more than two crimes these poor children are being put into those jails and they can be killed in there. They get mistreatment from other members and even from the officers. Paul Thompson points out in this article “Startling finds on teenage brains published on May 25, 2001 in the Sacramento bee that “A children is not a man” so why are you going to punish him as one. If he doesn't have the privileges that a grown man would have why would we punish him as a man. One last thing is that in my opinion I think that instead of sending these children to prison they should get put in a detention home where they can receive help from a psychologist and get therapies from professional help. In the article Juveniles Don't Deserve Life Sentences Garinger says that “ They were denied access to education and rehabilitation programs and left without help or hope” so why put them there where they can end up worse or even get killed. I would rather have my charged taxes go towards them getting medical and psychological help or maybe for them to get an education than for them to just be in jail being lazy and not doing anything good that can help them become better someday. For the reasons above I think that children shouldn’t be sentenced to life time in jail because everyone deserves a second chance, the don't measure the consequences because they are impulsive, they are put in a dangerous environment and lastly because 80% of the teenagers nowadays are very immature even in there early adulthood lifes. That is why I think they should be put in a detention home instead of getting lifetime in jail.
In the article On Punishment and Teen Killers by Jenkins, sadly brings to our attention that kids are sometimes responsible for unimaginable crimes, in 1990 in a suburban Chicago neighborhood a teenager murdered a women, her husband, and her unborn child, as she begged for the life of her unborn child he shot her and later reported to a close friend that it was a “thrill kill”, that he just simply wanted to see what it felt like to shoot someone. A major recent issue being debated is whether or not we have the right to sentence Juveniles who commit heinous crimes to life in adult penitentiaries without parole. I strongly believe and agree with the law that states adolescents who commit these heinous crimes should be tried as adults and sentenced as adults, however I don’t believe they should be sentenced to life without parole. I chose this position because I believe that these young adults in no way should be excused for their actions and need to face the severe consequences of their actions. Although on the other hand I believe change is possible and that prison could be rehabilitating and that parole should be offered.
“You are hereby sentenced to life without the possibility of parole”. These are the words that a juvenile in America is likely to hear. Collectively, as a nation, the United States has incarcerated more juveniles with life sentences than any other nation. With this fact the arguments arise that juveniles should not be punished the same was as an adult would be but, is that really how the justice system should work? To allow a juvenile who recently robbed a store only get a slap on the wrist? Not comprehending that there are consequences for their actions and how what they have done affects the victims.
For a juvenile to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole is almost to give that child the death penalty, a punishment that was outlawed in the 2005 case Roper v. Simmons. In Roper Christopher simmons challenged his death penalty sentence for murder at age 17 because of his claim that the was an “immature and irresponsible juvenile”. The Supreme Court overturned his sentence, saying that their was a national consensus against the death penalty for juveniles because so many states had rejected that as a viable form of punishment. A life without parole sentence is equal to the death penalty for a juvenile because the child is having any hope of living a semi-normal life terminated at a young age, in this case 14 years old. If this were your child would you want them to sit in jail for the rest of their life, with no hope and no reason to live? Or would you want them to, even if it was an impossibly long sentence, have a least some sliver of hope that maybe one day they will escape the icy hell of the prison walls and feel the sunshine upon their face once again? When the sentence of life with parole is given it is not a guarantee that the person will be let out, it is simply giving them some glimmer of hope and reason to
Everyone deserves a second chance; no one is perfect in this world.Certainly teens who may now be adults have come to realization that what they did was morally wrong but they have to be given the possibility to redeem themselves.To demonstrate that the heinous crime they committed does not necessarily make or mark them as harsh and insensitive human-beings.Occasionally the circumstances are what cause juveniles to behave a certain way.Moreover, it 's important to take in consideration that kids are considerably more impulsive and emotionally volatile than adults.Their brains don 't function and aren 't fully developed the way an adults brain is, their actually more reactive to stress.If you have no faults of your own;which is quite unlikely
Since the ban, it has happened 22 times, 21 of them for 17 year olds who ended up turning 18 before the execution, and one much younger, who killed his family. Was it a right decision that the supreme court made? Minors have an entire life full of changing experiences ahead of them, and it seems “cruel and unusual” to take that from a child. Generally, it’s respected as a good decision to prevent the death sentence on a minor, but there are some questions to be asked. What if the minor is a mass murderer or commits treason? Those seem like good reasons to use the death sentence. However, children learn a lot better than adults and can easily change their ways or attitudes in prison. The minors could still contribute positively to the world, and the death sentence would prevent that completely.
Heinous crimes are considered brutal and common among adults who commit these crimes, but among children with a young age, it is something that is now being counted for an adult trial and punishable with life sentencing. Although some people agree with this decision being made by judges, It is my foremost belief that juveniles don’t deserve to be given life sentencing without being given a chance at rehabilitation. If this goes on there’s no point in even having a juvenile system if children are not being rehabilitated and just being sent off to prison for the rest of their lives and having no chance getting an education or future. Gail Garinger’s article “ juveniles Don’t deserve Life sentence”, written March 14, 2012 and published by New york Times, mentions that “ Nationwide, 79 adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison-a sentence not imposed on children anywhere else in the world. These children were told that they could never change and that no one cared what became of them. They were denied access to education and rehabilitation programs and left without help or hope”. I myself know what it’s like to be in a situation like that, and i also know that people are capable of changing even children when they are young and still growing.
Supreme Court ruling Graham v. Florida (2010) banned the use of life without parole for juveniles who committed non-homicide crimes, and Roper v. Simmons (2005) abolished the use of the death penalty for juvenile offenders. They both argued that these sentences violated the 8th Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. While these landmark cases made great strides for the rights of minors passing through the criminal justice system, they are just the first steps in creating a juvenile justice system that takes into consideration the vast differences between adolescents and adults. Using sociological (Butler, 2010) and legal (Harvard Law Review, 2010) documents, this essay will explicate why the next such step to be taken is entirely eliminating the use of the life without parole sentence for juveniles, regardless of the nature of the crime being charged.
First off sentencing juveniles without parole should not be allowed to happen because the juveniles brain has not yet matured enough and they don’t think before they act. In the article “Juveniles don’t deserve life sentences” by Gail Garinger he asserts “young people are biologically different from adults. Brain imagining studies reveal that regions of
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.
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.
"Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time." -- David Grusin and Morgan Ames
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.
Should juveniles be trial as an adult after committing a heinous crime and sentenced to life? As a teenager, this question if far complicated to answer due that I am a teenager yet in my opinion, I believe that the juvenile should not be sentenced to life. I believe that there 's other way to punish them for their crimes. The last execution was in 2006 in California. On June 2012, the supreme court of justice ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison. On July 2014, in California the death penalty was removed. The 8th amendment banned the use of cruel or punishments. The reason why this rule have been imposed or banned was because many believed that they deserve a second chance. There are many reasons why juveniles commit crimes such as murder.
When juvenile are being sentenced life in prison for committing murder has always been an issue in many court cases. Some believe that they don 't deserve a second chance and that they should be sentenced life in prison but others do believe in second chances. There are many reasons to why juveniles should be given a second chance in life when they commit a crime such as murder. For example, the brain of these juveniles is not fully developed, the environment can influence them to do such crimes and there 's still ways for them to change and turn their life around.