Children who are not allowed to drive a car with another adolescent, nor to drink alcoholic beverages, because their brain is stated to not be developed enough, should not be judged as adults when in court. Jacob Ind murdered his mother and his stepfather at the age of 15. At this age an adolescent is not allowed to have a restricted license in 43 of the United States of America. A 15 year old is not allowed to have a full license in any of the 50 states. As for drinking; a fifteen year old is not allowed to drink in any of the states. This means that an adolescent who is not considered an adult in any other perspective is treated as a person with a fully developed brain (a brain is developed at the minimum age of 18 years old, though experts suggest a brain is only developed around the age of 25) when it comes to legal issues. A teenage brain is still developing on (amongst …show more content…
As the current president of the United States, Barack Obama, stated: “All our Nation 's children deserve the chance to fulfill their greatest potential, and nothing should limit the scope of their futures. But all too often, our juvenile and criminal justice systems weigh our young people down so heavily that they cannot reach their piece of the American dream.” In the National Youth Justice Awareness Month in 2015 he took the side of the Youngsters and explained how the current juvenile justice system can affect the future of the (more than) one million juveniles arrested each year. It can keep them from breaking social banners, education and it will eventually result in them not being able to find a job. He also spoke of the lifestyles most underage criminals come from; either the foster care system or environments where violence and/or drug abuse was very common. An environment with little or no opportunities. A large amount of the sentenced juveniles experienced or are experiencing mental problems, which there was no help for in their
There are indication that most criminals have a juvenile records in the US, indicating that crime manifests from a tender age. Therefore, to reverse the incidence of crime, it follows that the best strategy is to reduce the criminal orientation in the juvenile offenders as opposed to hardening them and preparing them for criminal careers. The case of the Crossroads Juvenile Center demonstrates the willingness of the juvenile justice systems to make these changes on the children. References Day, S. (2014). Runaway Man: A Journey Back to Hope.
A Juvenile writes, “brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain responsible for controlling thoughts, actions and emotions are not fully developed” ( Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences, Garinger 5). Grainger is not wrong that is the reason why so many adolescents are risk takers and make impulse decisions because they do not think of the repercussions of their actions. There are age limits to drinking and voting because the people who made those laws believed that adolescents could not handle those acts at their age for their immaturity. Lawmakers would look like hypocrites if they said that adolescents do not have a fully developed mind for drinking and voting, but do for making a decision of killing
In the article, On Punishment and Teen Killers, Jennifer Jenkins feels no remorse toward the teen killer. But Jenkins has worked with teenager her whole life, shouldn’t she feel a little remorse towards the kids. She argues “If brain development were the reason, then teen killers would kill at roughly the same rates all over the world”. But not all teenagers go through the same situations that others do. In addition it’s a generalization to assume that minors would pursue murder due to hardship in their
The federal government’s “War on Crime” by the Johnson administration in the 60s made way for tougher law enforcement and surveillance (Hinton, 2015). However, with this came the separation of children and adults in the criminal justice system; then the separation of juvenile delinquents from status offenders. As mentioned, status offenders are different from juvenile delinquents because they had broken rules which apply to only children. Meanwhile, juvenile delinquents are youths under the age of 18, who committed offenses that would be punishable to adults as well. By the late 1960s, there became a growing concern that juveniles involved in the court-based status-offense system, were not getting their best interests met (Shubik & Kendall, 2007).
As a U.S. citizen there are pretty much only three things you should be doing, that is paying taxes, voting, and serving on a jury. Skipping over the first two brings us to jury duty, which many feel to be a nuisance, but really, is it? Our right to a jury trial is one of the foundations our country was built on. Just because you don’t have a choice when it comes to jury duty, doesn’t mean it’s something that you should feel negative toward. Yes, that piece of mail we receive “summons” us to report to jury duty, but don’t think it that way.
There are certain instances of juveniles being tried as adults and sometimes ending up getting a life sentence without a chance of parole. I find that pretty harsh because there have been some cases where the juvenile meant no harm, they were either confused or brought along by gang members and they end up being charged along with the gang members for just being with them when a crime goes down. I believe that juveniles do not deserve to be given a life sentence because for one they are still maturing, they can learn from their mistakes and make amends, we still have to combat crimes like intended murder committed by a juvenile with extreme punishments especially if they are well over the age of 16. In the article published by the New York Times on March 14, 2012 “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences”, Garinger discusses that juveniles deserve a second chance since their brains are still developing.
Something will always need to be fixed in society because society is a reflection of us, and we are not perfect. Recently, there’s been many issues that have caught the attention of people living all across the world. Things such as police brutality, sexual assault in the workplace, and immigration law, just to name a few, but there’s also been an underlying issue that people are becoming more informed about, and that I believe matters - prison reform. Prison reform matters because in many instances, prisoners are treated inhumanely when they are locked up, and aren’t treated as humans when they have served their time. I believe we can bring about change in the prison system by changing the way we punish people who do commit crimes and focusing more on actual rehabilitation.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that it is immoral to give juveniles life sentences, even if they commit a crime as serious as murder, because it is a cruel and unusual punishment. This has been an issue in America as teenagers are often treated as adults in court due to a belief that their crimes warrant a harsh punishment. Many believe that these kids should not be given such major sentences because they are still immature and do not have the self control that adults do. I agree that juveniles do not deserve life sentences because they put less thought and planning into these crimes and they often are less malicious than adults. The article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” explains that the teenagers lose brain tissue that is responsible for self control and impulses (Thompson 7).
Today we have between 200,000 and 250,000 children below the age of 18 being charged as an adult every year in the United States. What’s important to note, is that the racial gap in arrest rates is even larger for teens than adults as kids of color are disproportionately affected. Willie has spent the last 30 years in isolation and as a 54 year old man he has nothing to look forward to but the same. He has claimed to have committed over 2,000 crimes and while his original crimes only netted him 5 years of incarceration, he soon proved unable to live in society by assaulting a 72 year old man soon after his initial release. Once in jail again he stabbed a guard and was sentenced to 25 years to life.
There are differences between a juvenile court and criminal court in the United States. The focus of the juvenile justice system is on rehabilitation, in hope of deterring the minor away from a life of crime so they will not commit a crime again as an adult. In contrast, the criminal justice system focuses on the punishment and often bases the sentencing outcome on the criminal history of the youth. In a study conducted, Butler (2011) showed that the participants’ experience with adult jails and prisons show that those facilities may instill fear but are otherwise emotionally—and often physically—dangerous for youth. Many of the adult prisoners, who were minors when they enter the adult institution, felt they were forced to “grow
The Freshman 15 is a thought that crosses the minds of most future college students, but most say that it won’t happen to them. This fear of losing a toned body after graduating high school bothers some more than others. They realize after high school there are no longer athletics, and they’ll no longer be exercising regularly. Also, when they depart from their parents house and begin to live on their own their eating habits change.
People will oppose to this law, but at the age of 18 an adolescent's brain is not fully developed yet. Underage drinking is a common action in today’s society. What kids do not know is the effect that underage drinking has on their brain. Since the brain is not fully developed at the age of 18, drinking
Within the urban communities, negative perceptions are magnified. Adolescents are more prone to be a product of their environment, especially those whose parents are incarcerated. Because of this trend adolescents are being incarcerated at an alarming rate and sentenced to adult facilities. Lambie & Randall (2013) states, the United States have imposed harsher penalties on serious young offenders, and have consequently increased rates of incarcerated youth and made it easier for youth to be treated and incarcerated as adults within the justice
Over 2 million people are currently being held in United States prisons, and while the U.S. may only hold 5% of the world’s population, it houses 25% of its prisoners. In the past few years, America’s prison system has fallen under public scrutiny for it’s rising incarceration rate and poor statistics. Many Americans have recently taken notice of the country’s disproportionate prisoner ratio, realized it’s the worst on the planet, and called for the immediate reformation of the failing system. The war on drugs and racial profiling are some of the largest concerns, and many people, some ordinary citizens and others important government figures, are attempting to bring change to one of the country 's lowest aspects.
The video that made me think the most, was Prison Kids: Juvenile Justice in America. They interviewed many kids, parents and the government officials who worked alongside these programs. This video was the most interesting to me because you do not hear much about kids being arrested. The video goes into something that was discussed in class several times, as well as a controversial topic in society.