Juveniles should be convicted as adults for violent crimes because it is not fair for juveniles to commit big crimes and get away with it so easily. If they want to act like adults, they should be treated. Some teens commit crimes and don't have a really good excuse on why they do it. In the article “On Punishment and Teen Killers” by Jennifer Jenkins she explains how the teenager that killed her sister, husband and her unborn child excuse of killing them was that he just wanted to “see what it would feel like to shoot someone”, which is no good excuse for what he did to this family. Another example from Jennifer's Jenkins article she states how “undeveloped brain” has nothing to do with teens committing these crimes. If an “undeveloped brain” was the case then teens would kill at roughly the same rates all over the world, which is not. Some of these teens think they can get away with some of these crimes which leads to commit more. In Jennifer's article she explains one of her case with a serial killer. His parents will fix everything whenever he got in trouble. After series of other …show more content…
They also believe that that some of these teens are committing crimes because they are going through a rough time in there and when they commit to these crimes they don't know what they are doing and later on regret it. They are not fully grown to understand the crimes they're committing. Although some people believe that kids don't know what they are doing when they commit these crimes, they also have to think about the consequences. If they murder someone just because they don't know what they are doing or because they are going through a “rough” time, they just make the situation worse. They take away another person live that didn't deserve to die and a family has to pay the consequences because they are the ones that have to deal with
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Show MoreMinors should be tried as adults because they made the same mistakes as adults. If they had the guts to break the law, they should have the responsibility to face what they did. Age does not matter because it's just a number. What matters the most is for justice to be served how it's supposed to be. I feel if a child decides to make a huge life changing decision they should have to suffer the consequences.
Therefore, any fearful memory or trauma can influence them or trigger them to react off of impulse and commit the crime. If the brain is naturally developed this way , their is no need for a juvenile to be treated as an adult when an adult brain and Juvenile brain are completely distinctive. The article “ Adolescent brains open to change “ by Laura Sanders elaborates on the common normality between adolescents. “ This dramatic adolescent makeover represents a window of opportunity known as a sensitive period, allowing the brain to be selectively shaped by the outside world”. Many here would probably object that you cannot let the outside world shape you, however these are what studies have proven.
Then their are kids who make a bad choice and someone gets killed. Teens should be tried as adults for felony crimes in order to rehabilitate, bring justice to the victims and to keep the streets clean of these threats. Some people can learn from their mistakes but some can not. According to “What is the Law in California?” written by the non-profit organization Campaign for Youth Justice, Proposition
Why Teens Should Be Tried As Adults Most rapists, murderers, and other criminals are walking out of jail after only serving short sentences. These criminals are juveniles who commit heinous, adult crimes. When the criminals are released, they’re given new identities to protect themselves and continue a peaceful life, while their victims and their family are living every day with fear and pain. The court system and juvenile supporters believe all juveniles should be given a second chance, and because of this, criminals are our neighbors, walking down the street, and are in public places. Just because someone is released from juvenile hall or prison, that doesn’t mean they learned their lesson.
Therapy assumes that most juveniles can become conscious of their own thoughts and behaviors and then make positive changes to them. A juvenile's thoughts are often the result of experience, and behavior is often influenced and prompted by these thoughts. In addition, thoughts may sometimes become distorted and fail to reflect reality accurately. Juveniles entering the criminal justice system can bring a number of serious problems with them substance abuse, academic failure, emotional disturbances, physical health issues, family problems, and a history of physical or sexual abuse. Girls make up nearly one-third of
When teen felons choose to act without thinking, they are putting other people’s lives at risk. They need to be charged as adults because the victims of the crimes will not be given the justice they deserve when they have to worry about that criminal harming them again. Although some people think that sending a juvenile through adult court gives them no hope, they should have given this a little thought before committing the crime. Teens need to think about the consequences and how their actions affect others before they act. When choosing between putting a violent adolescent in prison and taking the chance of letting them commit that crime again, it is most suitable to let the teen be tried as an adult and to place them in prison.
While many argue that juveniles who commit serious crimes, such as a murder, should be treated as adults, the fact is, juveniles under the age of eighteen, are not adults, and should not be treated as such. Juveniles are not mature enough or developed psychologically, and, therefore, do not consider the consequences of their actions. In the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains”
In our society, crimes are being committed not only by adults but by juveniles as well. By law as soon as a person turns 18 they are considered to be an adult. So what if an adult and a juvenile were to commit the same crime yet were sentenced differently simply based on the fact that one is a child and one is an adult? Juveniles are committing violent crimes just as adults and should be given the equal treatment and sentencing as adults receive. Juveniles aren’t completely ignorant as everyone seems to think.
In the past, offenders of all ages have committed crimes (some as young as 8yrs. old). Many people question “how can a person at a very young age be able to commit a crime and understand their plan of action?” Many of the youthful offenders have been inspired to commit the crime through either watching the news about a criminal case, on television, or even as well as releasing the pain the offender has experienced during his/her life. Many of these youthful offenders are suffering from mental disorders, just like this tragic event that took place on February 1996 in Moses Lake, Washington, at Frontier Middle School.
Since then, there have been new scientific discoveries that show juveniles should not be charged and prosecuted the same way as adults. According to research performed by the Harvard Medical School, the National Institute of Mental Health and the UCLA's Department of Neuroscience have discovered that the frontal and pre-frontal lobes of the brain are not fully developed in juveniles. These parts of the brain help determine impulse control and judgment. Maturation is not reached until the ages of eighteen and twenty two. This means youth are more likely to act irrationally, make abrupt decisions and choices, and do not think about the after effects
Teenagers are more than capable of committing heinous crimes contrary to their perceived youth. On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court in a split decision decided that juveniles who committed murder could not be given life sentences because it violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In other words, the majority believes that juvenile murderers can’t be sentenced to life because it is inconsiderate of their youth and immaturity as well as the environment they grew up in. On the other hand, the minority believes that juveniles who commit heinous crimes should be sentenced to life in prison because not only does it reflect the will of American society, but it also prevents them from having the chance of being released back into it. Though I concede that an abusive or manipulative environment could have influenced their decision to purposely end someone’s life, I still agree with the minority that, to protect our society from their atrocity, juveniles should be given life sentences for murder.
Things change: people change. Every bad situation in this life comes around to haunt one another in a manner of injustice. In many cases juveniles have been treated in a cruel way due to their actions. Young teens contribute to poor behavior when growing up, since they are mostly not aware of the consequences in a negligent situation a numerous amount of them tend to behave in an unusual way. Considering the fact that every teen grows in a different environment, it is unfair for all teenagers to have the same sentence when they commit crimes.
Some crimes are so cruel and have to be thought out like murder or rape and if a juvenile does one they should be tried as an adult, “It really doesn’t matter the age of the criminal, it they are committing crimes that are inherently adult in nature, then yes, these criminals absolutely should be punished as an adult regardless of their age”. If they can think out the action of committing the crime then they need to be held responsible accordingly. There are also those who disagree and say that young adolescents should not be charged as
Juvenile should be given charges equal to adults when it come to certain crimes, like murder. Whether a juvenile or an adult, a person has a full understanding of their actions, unless their mentally disturb but that 's not the subject. Young teens and children committing heinous crimes with full awareness. “Some persons will shin crime even if we do nothing to deter them, while others will seek it out even if we do everything to reform them. Wicked people exist.
But this actually disproves juvenile advocates reliance on the “underdeveloped brain” argument. If brain development were the reason, then teens would kill at roughly the same rates all over the world(Jenkins 91). This is something that doesn’t happens, you won’t be seeing teens around the world murdering people. Brain development is just something people don’t understand how it really works and use this argument to try to lower criminals culpability.