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Should Juveniles offenders be tried and punished as adults?
A crime is a crime regardless of age. If they did the crime, they should do the time. Juveniles try to push the law to the limits due to their age. They are unaware and don’t realize their criminal history will follow them all their lives. Juvenile offenders should be tried and punished as adults based on the crime, criminal history of the individual, and the personality of the offender.
Based on the crime
Every offense is different from case to case. There are two types of crimes a misdemeanor and a felony. Misdemeanors are small nonviolent crimes such as a drug charge under twenty grams, and accessory to a crime; where they’re at the wrong place at the wrong time. That carries only a maximum sentence of twelve months in a county jail. A felony is a serious crime such as kidnapping, murder, rape, arson or a drug charge over twenty grams and intent to sell drugs. Many of these crimes listed carry a minimum of three hundred and sixty six days in a state prison.
Criminal history of the individual
In life, people live and...
Day after day in this country there is a debate going on about the death penalty and whether we as people have the right to decide the fate of another persons life. When we examine this issue we usually consider those we are arguing about to be older men and women who are more than likely hardened criminals with rap sheets longer than the height we stand (Farley & Willwerth, 1998). They have made a career of crime, committing it rather than studying it, and somewhere along the line a jury of their peers decided enough was enough. They were handed down the most severe and most final punishment of them all, death. Behind all of the controversy that this issue raises lies a different group of people that are not so often brought into the lime light, juveniles.
Thousands of kid criminals in the United States have been tried as adults and sent to prison (Equal Justice Initiative). The debate whether these kids should be tried as adults is a huge controversy. The decision to try them or to not try them as an adult can change their whole life. “Fourteen states have no minimum age for trying children as adults” (Equal Justice Initiative). Some people feel that children are too immature to fully understand the severity of their actions. People who are for kids to be tried as adults feel that if they are old enough to commit the crime, then they are old enough to understand what they are doing. There are people who feel that children should only be tried as adults depending on the crime.
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.
Kids should be subjected to the measures of punishment that our judicial system is giving to them. Kids who show lots of enmity should be tried as adults. It is the only way to protect the innocent children. These kids know right from wrong, but they choose to do the wrong things and violence is wrong. As the laws have gotten stricter on discipline the kids have gotten wilder. When we let society tell us how to discipline our children then violent children is the result.
The Criminal Justice System’s main goal is to “deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent” (Garside). Juveniles who murder, steal, etc. are guilty. It does not matter their age because they have
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
Should Juveniles be tried as adults? As you read the following article, you will see that this argument has two sides to it with several arguments supporting both.
crimes are committed. In 2008, seventy-three thousand of these violent crimes were committed by juveniles. When you hear about murderers, rapists, and other criminals, automatically, your mind set wants these criminals sentenced to prison for a very long time. There is no second guessing when it comes to these extreme criminals, they should be punished for the severe crimes committed. Now, lets say the criminal was a fifteen year old, suddenly people begin to question if giving them the same sentencing as an “adult” would be appropriate. Many will say it is wrong to try a juvenile as an adult for various reasons, but by committing these violent crimes they stopped being children and should be tried as adults. Regardless of the age, criminals are criminals and they should all be tried the same, age does not define adulthood. Juvenile crimes are no different from adult crimes, teens know the difference between wrong and right, ignorance and foolishness are two different things, if the criminal has the ability to plan out the crime then they will be prepared to do the time.
Committing a crime will always be illegal no matter what age they commit it at. In the United States, if you are under the age of eighteen years old you are automatically considered as juvenile but can be tried and sentenced as an adult. This will be agreed on depending on the crime you commit. The purpose of the juvenile justice System is rehabilitation rather than being punished. Being tried as an adult can give you the punishment of life without parole, meaning that you will spend the rest of your life in prison. More than 200,000 youths are tried or sentenced as adults every year in the United States. I believe that juveniles under the age of 13 years old should be tried as juveniles because they are not yet adults. Punishments will help them view their horrific crime and hopefully learn right from wrong. Trying Juveniles, as adults will not give them the opportunity to learn from mistakes and get the mental help they need to turn their life around.
However, we never take the time to understand the action to why people are committing the crime that they are committing. More often than not, for someone to go commit a crime, they are triggered by something. Despite this, I also think that the way the current criminal justice system works with young people committing crime and it possibly affecting them all through their life is a little too harsh. I say this because like I mentioned earlier, they are young and still learning. To add on to that, their brain’s is still not developed at the age of 9-14. Technically, according to the University of Rochester, a brain is not fully developed until someone is 25. However, I would say that starting at the age of 15, it is reasonable to say that they now know what they are doing so if they decide to commit a crime, they should pay the full
Whether or not they should be tried as adults, how big the crime is and age. Various points of views and further thoughts and facts. However, a person of age, a minor is paying the price for the crime by doing time in prison. It may never change the fact that they created and did the crime, but it can change them as a person as they serve their time in prison or once they're out, with that being said, a second chance is needed for juveniles to comprehend what has happened and make a better out of themselves. Equally to prisoners who are adults and do get the chance to get a second shot at life, juveniles as well should get that
Children commit adult crimes. The problem is how do we punish them? Should they be treated in juvenile facilities, or punished with adult criminals? In some states, you are considered to be an adult at 17 years old, therefore, as criminals get placed “in adult prisons for more sophisticated training in violent crimes and victimization.”(Pg. 637)
Throughout time the department of justice have to face difficult cases in life. Their decision is meant to make the country better. Unfortunately, in cases dealing with juveniles; they are being punished the same as adults for heinous crimes. I believe juveniles who commit heinous crimes should not be tried as adults. Putting kids in jail is ridiculous and is not justifiable because it does not solve the solution. Most that are punished with this sentence are just messed up for life.
Juveniles should be treated as adults and be given a life sentencing because of the lack of equality that should be given to every person worldwide regardless of their ethnicity and age. When committing such a crime, juveniles should be sentenced to the same punishment as an adult and if a life sentence is given to a specific adult it should be given to the juvenile as well. It would be entirely unfair to have an extraordinary child or teen to be set free for the murderous cause he has done to a person that also an adult would commit.