When Kids Get Life

The decision of whether young criminals should be tried in juvenile courts or adult courts has created a lot of controversy throughout the years. Juveniles should be tried as juveniles. The ones who are tried as adults often undergo a very harsh punishment, considering the fact that they are very young. Being tried according to their age is fairer.

The film “When Kids Get Life” directed by Ofra Bikel shows the cases of several teenagers who got sentenced to life without parole. One of the kids is Andrew Medina. He was fifteen when it happened. He was charged for felony murder, even though it was never completely clear who was the one who killed17-year-old Kristopher Lohrmeyer. “Two of the other suspects made deals with the prosecutor, pleading

He was fifteen years old when he was charged for first degree murder for killing his mother and stepfather, after years of mental, physical and sexual abuse. At the time of the trial, Jacob’s brother explained that the reason why he killed them was in order to end the abuse that had been going on for years. Prosecutors said that he was exaggerating the abuse to give Jacob an excuse to kill. The jury felt sympathy for them, but said that her “hands were tied” at the moment of determining his sentence because there are not any exceptions in the sentencing law for first-degree murder, regardless of age or circumstances surrounding the murder. Jacob was sentenced to life without parole. The felony he committed is serious, but he should have been tried in a juvenile court. That way, he would not have been sentenced so

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