Juvenile Justice Should juveniles get treated as adults that’s one of the biggest controversy in our nation now days, with many juveniles committing crimes that are inconceivable according to their age. Judges have the last word on how to treat this young people. Many people argue that “the teens that are under eighteen are only kids, they won’t count them as young adults, not until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager this people are to call them adults” (Lundstrom 87). This is why people can’t come to a decision as how these young people should be treated like.
The current state of the juvenile justice system is one which has created an immense debate between a variety of people in the United States. The main question in this debate boils down to the issue of whether children should be able to be tried as an adult with no regard to their age. The juvenile court system is a separate entity from adult court which is used to handle the criminal cases of the youth in America. In the present, some children have their ability to fall under the jurisdiction of the adult courts revoked due to the gravity of their crimes. This should not be the case as the juvenile court should be given the ability to treat juveniles the way they should be.
When children and teens commit a violent crime such as murder, courts convict them as adults. This means that children as young as eight have been tried as adults in court. Eventually, these convicts will be housed in jails with adults. Despite the federal law stating that juvenile and adult inmates must be separated, most states do not comply with these rules. Furthermore, a law that varies throughout the states is the age in which courts send the children to adult or juvenile prisons.
They deserve the chance to be taught right from wrong before being thrown in prison. Where the only thing they will learn, is how to survive a life contained inside four walls. Juveniles should not be tried as adults and should have a chance to be rehabilitated. No matter what, there will always be crime. In low income areas stealing and aggravated assault are everyday occurrences.
Unfortunately, 1,852 minors were incarcerated into juvenile correctional facilities in 2018 (Prison Policy, 2018). This does not include the number of minors who were tried as adults or the cases that were never recorded. With the rates of juvenile crimes alarmingly increasing, it’s important to investigate possible factors and whether or not the individual should be tried as an adult. There are many situations and reasons in which I feel minors should not be tried as adults. However, there are serious violent cases in which I believe at a certain age the individual should be tried as an adult.
In the article, “Juveniles Don't Deserve Life Sentences”, the author Gail Garinger states, “ Young people are biologically different from adults”(1). Inevitably, an adult is further capable of a freely experience about life structure than a teen who needs guidance for the right path. Garinger also says, “ Juvenile offenders cannot with reliability be classifried among the worst offenders”(1). Since teens do not know the right or wrong path society should not see them as criminals but as kids who made the wrong choices without understanding their actions. In the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains”, Paul Thompson says, “A child is not a man”(1).
Those under the age of eighteen do not have the legal rights given to adults; since we do not treat them as adults, it does not make sense to sentence them as such. Biological studies also have found that teenagers make impetuous decisions and cause trouble because their underdeveloped brains lack the ability to look at future repercussions for their actions. Moreover, teenagers are still at an age that they are easily influenced by their environment.They succumb to peer pressure which can push them into doing crimes by the virtue of wanting to be accepted. Furthermore, they should be placed into the juvenile justice system, a safe environment in which allows young criminals to learn from the mistakes they make, rather than into adult jails, a place in which harden criminals could physically and mentally harm them. To sum up, the United States justice system should not try adolescents as adults because there are many neurological and external factors that differentiate them from adults; moreover, it is a must that we reform the United States juvenile justice system in order to help these
Many people have disregarded the fact that children too can commit despicable crimes; crimes that not even adults would think about committing. Juveniles have had their era in in being able to manipulating courts to give them a lighter sentences for their so-called “mistakes”. These juveniles have made puerile excuses to try and exonerate their actions by blaming their impulses, rather than taking accountability for them. Juveniles should be tried as adults due to being aware of their crimes and having an intention to kill, however, brain development and maturity can play a role into the reason why teens kill. With being tried as an adult juveniles should be granted the opportunity of freedom pending on their rehabilitation status and if requirements
The criminal justice system was created in order to punish people who choose to break the law. Some people believe they are above the law and decided to do whatever they like regardless of the consequences. Children and adults are both responsible for the actions they commit. The criminal justice should tried children as adults for committing felonies because a crime is a crime regardless of the age of the individual. This can be fulfilled by punishing juvelives with the correct sentence, by seeing that they know their actions lead to consequence and they have the proper process for a teen to be tried as adult.
Moreover, there is no way to know if the crime committed was by force. One might feel bad that if a young teen was in prison several years. Although, as a young teen, he should not have been sentenced for it, for that long. One could be in serious trouble for committing a murder, but not sentenced for thirty five years.Therefore, young teens who commit crimes should not be tried as adults in courts of law,